New evidence in doping case delays ruling on sprinters

Verdict on Costas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou postponed by two weeks

Costas Kenteris (l) and Katerina Thanou (r), facing career-ending bans for allegedly avoiding drug tests three times in two months, including on the eve of the Athens Olympics, had expected to learn their fate by the end of February. However, their submission of new evidence,not made clear, has delayed the verdict.

National sports authorities have postponed by two weeks the judgment on the country’s top two sprinters for missing doping tests, including one on the eve of last year’s Athens Olympics, their lawyer said yesterday.

Costas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou, facing career-ending bans for allegedly avoiding drug tests three times in two months, were expected to learn their fate by the end of February but late evidence from them has pushed the date back.

“A decision is now expected by around mid-March,” lawyer Michalis Dimitrakopoulos told Reuters. “The end of February deadline is no longer on the cards.”

Kenteris, 31, who won the men’s 200-meter title at the 2000 Sydney Games and Thanou, 30, who won the women’s 100-meter silver medal at Sydney, face a maximum two-year ban if found guilty.

[Christos Tzekos, the sprint pair’s coach right up until the Athens Olympics — Kenteris has since parted ways — also faces disciplinary action by the tribunal. A Greek prosecutor charged Tzekos with illegally importing and selling banned substances. The case is expected to come to trial in about a year.]

The athletes, who spectacularly withdrew from the Athens Olympics days before they were scheduled to race in front of a home crowd, have been suspended by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) for missing the three tests, including the one scheduled for Athens.

The IAAF said the sprinters had failed to provide samples for tests in Tel Aviv, Chicago and Athens and ordered SEGAS (the Greek Athletics Federation) to hold a disciplinary inquiry.

The athletes also face a criminal hearing in Greece over the missed drug tests and have been charged with faking a motorcycle accident on the day of the Athens test, which led to them spending four days in hospital.

They will miss this week’s European indoor athletics championships in Madrid.

“It is up to the independent commission investigating the charges to decide and issue the verdict. The Greek Athletics Federation is responsible only for ratifying it,” a SEGAS official told Reuters.

The five-person commission, set up by SEGAS following the IAAF suspension, includes Greek athletic officials.

“There seem to have been some new documents submitted by the [athletes’] lawyers which are now being evaluated so it could well be mid-March before a decision is made,” the official said.

Following the final hearing in late January, the athletes had sounded confident that they would be acquitted.

“I am confident and optimistic,” Thanou had said at the time. “We presented new evidence to the committee that they were not aware of.” It was not clear what this new evidence was.(Reuters)