Greece's top athletes face ban
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-08-13 09:24

Greece's top athlete Costas Kenteris faces expulsion from the Athens Olympics after missing a drugs test, casting a big cloud over the host nation on the eve of the opening ceremony.

File photo of Greek Olympic, World and European 200 metres champion Costas Kenteris running in Athens' Olympic stadium June 10, 2004. Kenderis and his training partner Katerina Thanou were in hospital on Friday after a motorcycle accident shortly after they missed eve-of-Games drugs tests, a Greek spokesman said. "They have been involved in an accident involving a motorcycle. They have been taken to hospital," Greek Olympic team spokesman George Gakis told Reuters. He did not know the extent of their injuries. [Reuters]

"I have called for a disciplinary hearing ... The process has started rolling," said International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge on Thursday.

With Games officials vowing to catch all drug cheats, a Greek team spokesman said Kenteris, the Olympic 200 metres champion, and Katerina Thanou, 100 metres silver medallist at Sydney four years ago, had both missed doping tests. She also faces a hearing.

A Greek team spokesman confirmed that Greece's Olympic 200 metres champion Costas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou, the 100 metres silver medallist at Sydney, had both missed drugs tests because team managers had allowed them to leave the Olympic Village on August 12, 2004. Katerina Thanou of Greece celebrates after winning the women's 100 m final at the European Athletics Championships in Munich in this August 7, 2002 file photo. [Reuters]

Kenteris, the only man to win the Olympic, world and European 200 titles, has been the host nation's best medal hope at the Games.

"If he didn't turn up (for the drugs test), he's a fool and he deserves to be out," said an Olympic official, declining to be named.

A missed drugs test is normally treated as a failed test and leads to immediate suspension from competition.

The drama swept the Games city, with some young volunteers bursting into tears at the news Kenteris was under a cloud. Greek television broke into programmes to report developments.

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