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Drug investigation reaches Greek athletes
OFFICIALS TESTED GREEKS FOR THG
By Elliott Almond
Mercury News
Wed, Mar. 24, 2004
The reach of a federal drug inquiry into a Burlingame nutrition
company has extended all the way to athletes from the host nation
for the 2004 Athens Games.
Track and field officials targeted Greek athletes last summer for
surprise testing of a previously undetectable steroid after learning
they had connections to Balco Laboratories.
Arne Ljunquist, International Association of Athletics Federations
vice president, told the Mercury News that he selected a handful of
Greeks, and others, to test for THG because of intelligence provided
by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. Ljunquist said the Greeks, whom he
would not identify, were not well-known and did not test positive.
An e-mail included in the evidence U.S. authorities made public when
announcing the indictments implicated the Greeks, although the names
of the coaches and athletes were not revealed. That has been enough
to ignite a strong response from a hypersensitive country after
enduring years of criticism about its ability to prepare for the
Summer Olympics.
Reports speculated that the e-mail referred to Greek national heroes
Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou and sprint coach Christos
Tsekos, who has denied any connection to Balco. The Greek minister
of sports has called for an investigation, and Tsekos has threatened
to sue a London newspaper for making it an issue.
The e-mail, allegedly sent by Conte in August 2002, asked the
recipient to advise another coach to stop using THG because he
feared a sample of the drug had been sent to International Olympic
Committee drug testers.
``We might also want to somehow get this message to the coach of the
Greek athletes REDACTED and REDACTED so that nobody tests
positive,'' the e-mail said.
Andreas Linardatos, a former national-level sprinter, told the
Athens sports daily Goal News that he was the recipient of the
e-mail. He refused to comment when reached recently.
Linardatos has been listed on a Balco-related Web site and
distributes the company's legal dietary supplements, such as ZMA, in
Greece. Four Greek athletes also appear on a Balco Web site: Olga
Vasdeki, a 2000 Olympic triple jumper; Christos Polychroniou, a
hammer thrower; Christos Meletoglou, a triple jumper; and Thomas
Sbokos, a sprinter.
Athletes blossomed
Just as Greece won the right to host its second Summer Olympics in
modern history, its athletes have blossomed in track and field.
Kenteris won the Olympic gold medal in the 200 meters in perhaps the
biggest surprise of the Sydney Games. Thanou won the silver medal
behind Marion Jones in the 100 meters. And Mirela Manjani, in the
javelin, and Katerina Vongoli, in the discus, have won European
championships.
But the Greeks caught the ire of IAAF leadership in 2002 when nine
of their athletes could not be found for out-of-competition testing.
Greek officials blamed the situation on poor communication between
athletes and a drug tester. Ljunquist said the matter has been
settled.
Suspicions remain, however. Tsekos, who recently told Sports
Illustrated that he sold nutritional supplements in Chicago in the
early 1980s, brought much of it upon himself for shoving a drug
tester in Germany seven years ago. In another example, drug testers
last year were sent to the island of Crete to collect urine samples
from Kenteris and Thanou, but the sprinters had slipped off to Qatar.
Such actions have heightened concern over the latest allegations. In
calling for an inquiry, sports minister George Lianis said the
simple mention of Greeks and Balco was enough to ``cause for
misinterpretations up to the point of staining the reputation of big
Greek athletes and their coaches.'' He said the Greek public was in
a fluster over the episode.
Suspicions linger
While Kenteris and Thanou barely register a blip on the American
sports radar, they are huge stars in Greece. Those who closely
monitor sprinters say Kenteris' sudden rise has been so unusual that
it automatically raised suspicions about drug use.
Kenteris became the first Greek male to win an Olympic medal in a
running event since 1896. Two years later Kenteris won the European
championships in 1986, breaking for the first time the magical
20-second barrier in the 200. That left Olympic historian David
Wallenchinsky wondering because, he said, sprinting does not have a
history of sudden improvement the way, say, the marathon does.
``Where did this guy come from?'' he asked.
For John Hoberman, a University of Texas professor who writes about
drug use in sports, the actions of Greek sprinters underscore a
bigger problem.
``It is just a perfect example of the subversion of doping control
through the sport of nationalism,'' he said. ``Greece is a small
country where these things tend to matter even more.''
Greece is the smallest country since Finland in 1952 to play host to
the Summer Games. Anything involving champion runners would affect
the country, said Alexander Kitreoff, a historian at Haverford
College and author of ``Wrestling With the Ancients: Modern Greek
Identity and the Olympics.''
Kitreoff, who is Greek, is less skeptical than others when it comes
to Greece's concerns over drug use. He said the country is mindful
of its role as repository of the Olympic spirit.
``Greeks are always protecting the purity of the Games of all the
problems -- war, professionalism and drugs,'' he said, adding that
the athletes and coaches share in that responsibility. ``I would be
shocked if the allegations turned out to be true precisely because
of that.''
Hoberman, though, said it might be politically impossible for a full
government investigation because Kenteris is ``the emotional vehicle
of the Games for the host country.'' He said the Greek government
gave Kenteris and Thanou large sums for their Olympic performances
in Sydney.
``That is unusual government behavior,'' Hoberman added. ``And that
tells you something about the resolve of that government to milk the
athletic thing with whatever they can.''
Greek Olympic stars fall under doping cloud
The Globe and Mail
Friday, Aug 13, 2004
By CHRISTIE BLATCHFORD AND JAMES CHRISTIE
Athens — The Athens Olympics was on the brink of turning into a
full-blown Greek tragedy last night with the news that two of the
host nation's most beloved athletes failed to comply with drug tests
ordered by the International Olympic Committee.
Shortly after midnight in Athens, IOC president Jacques Rogge
announced he has set up a disciplinary committee to investigate “the
nature and circumstances” that led to 200-metre Olympic champion
Kostas Kederis and 100-metre contender Katerina Thanou effectively
going AWOL.
Mr. Rogge's announcement came less than 24 hours before today's
opening ceremonies. Mr. Kederis, a national hero in Greece, was the
odds-on favourite to light the Olympic cauldron.
The two athletes were notified they were to have submitted to sample
collection earlier last evening, and are now alleged to have been
unavailable “without compelling justification.”
The drama swept the Games' city, with some young volunteers bursting
into tears at the news Mr. Kederis was under a cloud. Greek
television broke into programs to report developments.
The saga continued as Mr. Kederis and Ms. Thanou were involved in a
traffic accident while riding a motorcycle early this morning, just
a few hours before they were to face the disciplinary committee.
Police said they were taken to hospital but had not been seriously
hurt.
Under newly expanded rules, the IOC can turn up unannounced or, as
was apparently the case here, on short notice to perform tests on
the athletes. Doping officials tested 290 athletes in the days
before the Games.
The disciplinary committee, formed under the Olympic Charter and
Article 7 of the IOC Anti-Doping Rules, will hear from the two
athletes, likely today, and then report to the IOC executive board.
Mr. Rogge's terse statement came just two hours after the Hellenic
Olympic Committee issued an opaque press release that confirmed
rumours that were already sweeping through Greek media.
According to the release, when an unidentified doping control
official arrived at 6:15 p.m. local time at the athletes' village
for the sample collections, Mr. Kederis and Ms. Thanou weren't in
their rooms.
John Papadogiannakis, the Greek chef de mission, “also searched for
the athletes,” the terse press release said, and was told by another
athlete, 50-kilometre race walker Theodoros Stamatopoulos, that the
two had left the village to “collect some of their personal
belongings from their home.”
According to the release, Mr. Stamatopoulos stressed — in what may
now be known as the Freudian slip of these Olympics, the English
translation said he “stressed out” — that Mr. Kederis and Ms. Thanou
were coming back and pleaded “for a few hours' extension.”
Reuters was reporting last night that Greek officials, who said the
team has filed a written appeal seeking a time extension, are trying
to cast the missed tests as a bizarre communications breakdown
between team leaders and the two athletes.
The report also quoted Istvan Gyulai, secretary-general of the
International Association of Athletics Federations, as accepting the
“mix-up” explanation as plausible, but had unnamed senior Olympic
officials describing Mr. Kederis as a “fool” for having missed a
scheduled test.
The 31-year-old is the country's most revered sportsman, a surprise
gold medal winner at the Sydney Games and genuine national hero who
can't walk down a street anywhere in Greece without being mobbed by
adoring fans. Were Mr. Kederis to be banned from competition, the
normal result of a missed drugs test, it would be nothing short of a
disaster for his countrymen, who against all odds and amid much
criticism have managed to pull from chaos a Games that in the
sunshine of another glorious summer's day yesterday appeared bound
for success and plaudits.
As athletes from all over the world began arriving by the thousands
this week, they have been full of praise both for the quality of the
competition venues and the hospitality of their hosts. But even if
accepted by the disciplinary committee as an unfortunate accident,
the missed tests are bound to fuel widespread speculation
surrounding Mr. Kederis, Ms. Thanou and their controversial coach,
Christos Tzekos.
As far back as 1997, Mr. Tzekos was banned by the IAAF for two years
after he manhandled a drugs-control official at a German track meet
while three of his athletes fled and escaped a random drug test.
By 1999, Mr. Tzekos was back, and it was under his tutelage that Mr.
Kederis went from a failed 400-metre runner to an Olympic champion
in the 200 metres at Sydney. In the two years that followed, he also
won the world title in Edmonton and later the European championship.
But Mr. Kederis failed to defend his world title in Paris last year
amid rumours he had tested positive for banned substances,
accusations that were denied by him and denounced by Greek officials
as part of an “anti-Greek” plot. Three years ago, the Greek
footballer Vassilis Lakis said Mr. Tzekos was one of the coaches at
the AEK Athens club who had been feeding players unknown cocktails
of drugs; two AEK players subsequently tested positive.
Last May, the IAAF complained that top Greek athletes were not
available for out-of-competition drug testing and were not informing
the organization of their up-to-date whereabouts. It cautioned Mr.
Tzekos when Mr. Kederis and Ms. Thanou “relocated” without telling
the IAAF.
It was just this spring, shortly after the world's fastest couple —
American gold medalist Marion Jones and world 100-metre record
holder Tim Montgomery — were implicated as clients and members of
the ZMA Track Club, an affiliate of the now-notorious Bay Area
Laboratory Co-operative run by Victor Conte, that the Greeks were
caught up in the same scandal.
The BALCO lab was identified as the source of both the manufacture
and distribution of steroids specially designed to avoid detection.
The BALCO investigation, originally led by the U.S. Internal Revenue
Service, ultimately resulted in U.S.A. Track and Field tightening up
drug tests for their athletes and for the first time gave real teeth
to the U.S. Anti-Doping Association.
Four American track and field athletes, three of whom tested
positive and one who admitted using steroids, have been banned from
competition for two years. Britain's fastest man, Dwain Chambers,
another ZMA athlete, also tested positive and has been banned, as
has Mr. Montgomery. Among the damning e-mails recovered by the IRS
in Mr. Conte's files was one, dated August of 2002, to an
unidentified Greek coach, urging him to warn two of his athletes,
also unidentified, that there was now a test for a previously
undetectable drug.
Mr. Tzekos has always adamantly denied that he was the unnamed coach
in the e-mail.
As recently as this week, even Greek team officials appeared not to
know where Mr. Kederis and the 29-year-old Ms. Thanou actually were,
and at an early morning briefing yesterday with Canadian Dick Pound,
head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, Mr. Pound was asked about Mr.
Kederis's whereabouts. “Well, I am not sure where he is,” he said.
Reportedly having been in Chicago, Mr. Kederis and Ms. Thanou were
said to have arrived back in Athens and checked in at the village
about 4 p.m. yesterday. Little more than two hours later came the
fateful knock on the door.
Duo given time amid doping rumours
Kenteris, Thanou in Hospital following mystery motorcycle accident
The Telegraph
Saturday, August 14, 2004
REUTERS
Athens: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) spared
Greece major embarrassment on the opening day of the Athens
Games on Friday by granting its two top sprinters more time to
explain why they missed a dope test.
A 72-hour extension for Costas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou,
after they failed to show up for a Friday disciplinary
commission drugs tribunal, was perhaps only a postponement of
what could still turn into a national scandal.
The sprinters are in hospital after being injured in a mystery
overnight motorcycle accident. Both were said to be stable and
not seriously hurt but have been ordered to stay in medical
care for at least two more days.
An IOC statement said: “In order to ensure a fair process and
give due consideration to the athletes the disciplinary
commission has decided to postpone the hearing until Monday,
August 16.”
After waiting in vain for the pair to leave hospital for the
hearing, IOC drugs-panel member Sergei Bubka, a former Olympic
pole vault champion, said: “It was a doctor’s decision. It
wasn’t really our decision.”
“It was there on a medical certificate. It said these athletes
should not be transferred anywhere for 48 hours,” he added,
deepening the murk of a case that may leave doubt hanging over
the pair like the Sword of Damocles.
Meanwhile, the Greek national Olympic committee will hold an
extraordinary meeting on Saturday to discuss the missed doping
tests of the duo. A statement said “all relevant developments”
would also be discussed at the meeting.
The sudden cloud of suspicion over two national heroes
delivered a severe shock to a country savouring one of its
proudest moments. Kenteris won gold in the 200 m in the Sydney
Games and Thanou took silver in the 100.
Dick Pound, chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency, lowered
the anxiety level, saying the three-day delay was no big
deal“because the athletics doesn't start until the second week
anyway (and) this gives them more time to get all the
information they need”.
But International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF)
general secretary Istvan Gyulai said earlier that Kenteris,
nicknamed “Greece Lightning” for his gold-medal Sydney dash,
and Thanou both missed a drugs test in Chicago several days
ago after leaving for Athens a day earlier than planned.
IOC president Jacques Rogge said the fact that the two were
Greek national heroes would have no bearing on their fate.
Kenteris and Thanou were ordered on Friday morning to appear
before a three-member IOC disciplinary commission which could
rule that a missed test is a failed test, which carries a
two-year ban.
A statement on their injuries in the crash, in which no other
vehicle was involved, said Kenteris “sustained a slight head
injury, a sprain to the vertebra at the back of his neck, a
knee sprain and scratches to his right leg”. Thanou suffered
“slight abdominal injuries, a sprain to the right leg”.
In the aftermath, Greek Olympic team spokesman George Gakis
said the pair was not out of the team and sprint coach
Christos Tzekos said the two could be fit in time to compete.
“They don’t have a serious problem. We’ll see over the next
few days how their health develops,” said Tzekos. The women’s
100 metres final is on August 21, the men’s 200 on August 26.
But all Athens was staggered by the news.
Call-in show reaction swung from sympathy to stoicism to
paranoia. The daily Ethnos urged the sprinters “Tell Us the
Truth — You owe it to all Greeks to prove you are clean”.
Kenteris, Thanou and coach suspended from Greek team at Olympics at
Olympics
Lisa Orkin
August 14, 2004
AP
ATHENS - Star sprinters Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou were
suspended Saturday from the Greek Olympic team for missing drug tests, but
their fate was left in the hands of the International Olympic Committee.
The Greek committee's seven-member board removed the athletes pending a
final decision by the IOC at a hearing Monday. The sprinters' coach,
Christos Tsekos, was also suspended.
The case has shamed Greece and overshadowed the opening of what was
supposed to be a triumphant showcase of national pride and achievement at
the Athens Games.
Making the situation worse, police are now investigating a suspicious
motorcycle accident that put the two in the hospital Thursday night just
hours after drug testers failed to find them in the Olympic Village. The
runners sustained cuts and bruises, and were to be released Monday.
Kenteris, the reigning 200-metre champion, is the country's most
celebrated athlete and was its top hope for a gold medal in track. Thanou,
the 100-meter silver medallist in Sydney four years ago, is his training
partner.
Greek committee president Lambis Nikoalou said he wanted the sprinters to
be expelled immediately but was outvoted.
Tsekos, who attended the meeting, said he and his runners hadn't broken
any rules.
"There is nothing for us to be afraid of," he said.
Michalis Dimitrakopoulos, a lawyer representing Tsekos and the sprinters,
called the decision a one-day "compromise" until the IOC hearing.
"Our champions are clean," he said. "There has been no violation of the
doping regulations. They have nothing to hide. They have done nothing
wrong."
The police want to make sure. They have begun a preliminary investigation
into the motorcycle wreck, which includes checking out the pair's initial
statement that an unidentified man happened by the crash and drove them 18
miles to the hospital.
Investigators have failed to find the driver or any signs of a wreck, and
officers who canvassed the neighbourhood were unable to locate witnesses
who saw or heard the crash, police sources told The Associated Press on
condition of anonymity.
Abraham Orphanopoulos, who owns a kiosk at the site, told reporters: "I
was in my kiosk and saw nothing."
The IOC, meanwhile, is investigating whether the sprinters deliberately
missed the drug test. A hearing, originally scheduled Friday, was
postponed 72 hours because the athletes said they couldn't attend because
of their injuries.
IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said Saturday's suspension of the athletes
didn't change the situation.
"The IOC will continue with its procedures Monday," she said. If the
committee finds them guilty of a doping violation, they would be declared
ineligible for the games.
Kenteris, a surprise winner at the Sydney Olympics, had been considered a
favoyrite to light the cauldron at Friday night's opening ceremony, an
honour that went to former Olympic windsurfing champion Nikolaos
Kaklamanakis.
Kenteris and Thanou have a history of being hard to find for drug tests
and rarely run in international competitions outside the Games. Neither
has tested positive for drugs.
IOC medical commission chairman Arne Ljungqvist said drug testers
unsuccessfully tried to find Kenteris and Thanou a few days ago in
Chicago, where they had been training with Tsekos. Nick Davies, spokesman
for the International Association of Athletics Federations, said the
sprinters changed plans and travelled to Essen, Germany, to see a doctor.
Last year, Kenteris and Thanou missed an out-of-competition drug test
-they were in Qatar after telling anti-doping officials they would be
training on the Greek island of Crete.
IAAF general secretary Istvan Gyulai said Kenteris passed two
out-of-competition tests in the past 10 months, and Thanou passed two
tests in the last seven months.
[Link]
IOC weigert dopingtest Kenteris in ziekenhuis
ANP
17 augustus 2004
ATHENE - Het Internationaal Olympisch Comité heeft geweigerd de
gewraakte atleten Kostas Kenteris en Ekaterini Thanou een dopingtest
af te nemen in het ziekenhuis. Zij worden daar verpleegd na een
mysterieus motorongeluk op de dag dat zij in het olympisch dorp
out-of-competition op doping moesten worden gecontroleerd.
Kenteris en Thanou deden zelf het aanbod om in het ziekenhuis urine
en bloed af te geven. Arne Ljungqvist, hoofd van de medische
commissie van het IOC, zei dat het voorstel is geweigerd. "Zij
dachten dat het in hun voorstel zou zijn. Ik weet niet wat hun
bedoeling was, maar wij zijn er niet ingetrapt. Het heeft geen
enkele zin in het ziekenhuis te testen. Daar is het mogelijk dingen
te fixen waardoor je niet positief bent."
[Link]
Balco e-mail named embattled Greek athletes
By ELLIOTT ALMOND
San Jose Mercury News
ATHENS - The Greek sprinters scheduled to appear before an
International Olympic Committee disciplinary hearing Wednesday for
missing two drug tests were named in an e-mail exchange between
Balco Laboratories owner Victor Conte Jr. and a Greek track and
field coach, two sources familiar with the case said.
The reference to the Greeks came in e-mails in August 2002 involving
possible testing for THG, a previously undetectable designer steroid
that has been central to the Balco case.
Kostas Kenteris, the defending Olympic champion in the 200 meters
who had been expected to light the cauldron at the opening ceremony
Friday, and training partner Katerina Thanou were the subject of the
e-mail. While it does not specifically mention drug use, it
implicates Greece's biggest sports stars in an escalating
controversy that has generated nearly as many headlines in Greece as
the Olympics.
While leaving Tuesday from a hospital, where he was treated for
injuries from a motorcycle accident with Thanou last week, Kenteris
told reporters, "I am suffering a great injustice, and I want to say
I never used banned substances."
Thanou, the 2000 silver medalist in the women's 100 meters, declined
to comment about the missed tests when she left the hospital a few
minutes later.
They couldn't be reached for comment about the e-mail, which was
included in an unsealed U.S. government affidavit as part of the
42-count indictment against Conte and three other Bay Area men.
In the e-mail, Conte claimed he had received word that officials
were prepared to test for THG as far back as 2002.
The e-mail involving the Greeks read:
"We might also want to somehow get this information to the coach for
the Greek athletes [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] so that nobody tests
positive. They seem to be ready to charge athletes on a `related
substances' charge."
The redacted names are those of Kenteris and Thanou, the sources
said. The reference to the Greek coach is to Christos Tsekos, said
the sources, who have read the e-mail.
Federal authorities charged Conte and the three others with
distributing illegal drugs to elite athletes, such as Giants slugger
Barry Bonds and Olympic champion Marion Jones. Government documents
say at least 27 athletes received THG, including nine who have
tested positive for the drug.
Andreas Linardatos, a former national-level sprinter, told the
Athens sports daily Goal News in February that he was the recipient
of the e-mail. He declined to comment on the case when reached in
Athens this week.
Linardatos, a Greek coach, has appeared on a Balco-related Web site
as an endorser and distributes the company's legal dietary
supplements, such as ZMA, in Greece. Four Greek athletes also have
appeared on a Balco Web site: Olga Vasdeki, a 2000 Olympic triple
jumper; Christos Polychroniou, a hammer thrower; Christos
Meletoglou, a triple jumper; and Thomas Sbokos, a sprinter.
An international track and field official previously told the San
Jose Mercury News that some Greek athletes were targeted for
suspected use of THG last summer after testers learned of the drug's
existence and as a result of the federal investigation into Balco, a
Burlingame nutrition company.
Kenteris and Thanou have been in the news nonstop since last Friday,
when word came that they had missed drug tests last week in Chicago
and at the Olympic Village. The Greek Olympic Committee suspended
the stars and their coach Saturday, pending the IOC decision.
Then the city's chief prosecutor opened an investigation into the
motorcycle accident to find out whether the sprinters orchestrated
it as an attempt to cover up the missed tests. Athletes who miss two
tests can be banned by the IOC, which conducts drug testing during
the Olympics.
Adding to the circus atmosphere, the IOC disciplinary committee had
to postpone two hearings while the sprinters remained in the
hospital. Their lawyer, Michalis Dimitrakopoulos, promised no more
delays. Dimitrakopoulos told reporters Tuesday the sprinters want to
tell their side of the story.
"This is an issue that has shaken to its very roots this country,"
said Theodoros Roussopoulos, Greek communications minister. "Of
course I think it would be better if it were closed. If a wound is
opened, it is better that it is closed as quickly as possible. It is
now staining Greek's image internationally."
If the IOC bans them, the sprinters could still appeal to the Court
of Arbitration for Sport, which has set up a tribunal in Athens.
Qualifying heats for the women's 100 meters begin Thursday; for the
men's 200, they start next Tuesday.
While the Greeks vowed to fight for a chance to run in the Olympics,
sprinter Torri Edwards of Los Angeles lost her final chance to
compete in Athens when an arbitration panel upheld her two-year ban
for taking a banned stimulant.
Edwards, a two-time medalist at last year's world championship in
Paris, qualified for the Athens Games in the 100 and 200. Gail
Devers will take her place in the 100 and LaShaunte'a Moore in the
200.
Greek drug saga ends with athletes pulling out rather than facing expulsion
By Stephen Wilson
AP
August 18, 2004
ATHENS, Greece – In the end, they jumped before they were pushed.
After a seven-day saga featuring missed drug tests, a suspicious
motorcycle crash and defiant denials, Greece's top two sprinters
pulled out of the Athens Olympics on Wednesday rather than be kicked
out.
Avoiding the complete disgrace of expulsion, national icons Kostas
Kenteris and Katerina Thanou turned in their Olympic credentials to
close a bizarre doping scandal that tarnished the host nation's
moment of celebration and cast a shadow over the entire games.
The International Olympic Committee took no action against the
athletes and passed the case to track and field's world governing
body for any long-term punishment.
"We had material which we think could have led to a sanction," IOC
legal adviser Francois Carrard said. "The main thing is they are not
competing in these games."
Olympic officials are hopeful the decision, which came two days
before the start of track competition, will turn the spotlight away
from drugs and back onto sports.
"It's good for the games that the issue is now a dead one," said
World Anti-Doping Agency chief Dick Pound.
Kenteris, the reigning Olympic 200-meter champion who had been
expected to light the cauldron at last Friday's opening ceremony,
and Thanou, who won the 100-meter silver behind Marion Jones in
Sydney four years ago, said they quit the games in the interest of
Greece and the Olympics.
Kenteris also said he was severing ties with their coach, Christos
Tsekos. All three handed over their Olympic accreditation.
The IOC opened an investigation after the sprinters failed to show
for drug tests at the athletes' village last Thursday. Late that
night, the pair were admitted to an Athens hospital after reportedly
being injured in a motorcycle wreck whose circumstances remain
unclear.
IOC hearings with the athletes were postponed twice while they
remained hospitalized. When they finally arrived Wednesday morning,
they strode grim-faced through a marble hotel lobby showing no sign
of injuries. After an hour before a three-member disciplinary panel,
they emerged before a media throng and announced that they had
pulled out – while still insisting they were innocent.
The IOC executive board then met but decided it could take no
further action. Once the athletes had withdrawn and given up their
credentials, they were no longer under IOC jurisdiction, officials
said.
It's clear the IOC would have kicked them out anyway.
"They realized the commission was not to be fooled with," IOC vice
president Thomas Bach, who chaired the disciplinary panel, told The
Associated Press. "We were prepared for everything, we were prepared
to go to the bitter end. I think when making their decision they
took that in mind. They could draw the conclusions."
The IOC handed the case to the International Association of
Athletics Federations, which could ban the athletes for up to two
years if they are found guilty of deliberately avoiding drug tests.
Tsekos also could be banned.
Whether the sprinters and coach can take part in the 2008 Beijing
Olympics also is in doubt.
The IOC said it would open a "new procedure" to consider whether
they should be eligible for future games. Kenteris is 31, Thanou 29.
IAAF anti-doping chief Arne Ljungqvist said the federation's ruling
council will meet Aug. 26 in Athens to review the case. He said the
panel could provisionally suspend the athletes pending a full
investigation, but any definitive sanctions won't come until "way
after" the games.
"It's disappointing when two of Greece's best athletes are
withdrawn," IAAF spokesman Nick Davies said. "But we're now prepared
to consider the information on the alleged missed tests and see what
we can do."
Under IAAF rules, athletes face sanctions in the event of three
drug-test "no-shows" in 18 months. Prior to last week's missed test
in Athens, the Greek runners were absent when testers looked for
them in Chicago on Aug. 10-11. The IAAF is also looking into a third
possible case involving Kenteris in Tel Aviv, Israel, in late July.
In another development, the San Jose Mercury News reported Wednesday
that the Greek sprinters were named in an August 2002 e-mail
exchange between Balco Laboratories owner Victor Conte and Tsekos.
The paper, quoting two unidentified sources, said the messages
concerned possible testing for THG, a previously undetectable
steroid.
[Link]
A quick getaway: Greek sprinters beat expulsion by walking out on the
games
Thanou and Kederis end Olympic careers under a cloud
Duncan Mackay in Athens
Thursday August 19, 2004
The Guardian
The final curtain yesterday came down on the Greek tragedy which has
overshadowed the first week of the Athens Olympics when the sprinters
Kostas Kederis and Ekaterini Thanou withdrew from the games.
The host country's two biggest stars withdrew before they were expelled
for allegedly evading a series of drugs tests in a move organisers hope
will put the spotlight back on sport after a traumatic opening to the
Olympics.
Kederis and Thanou pulled out after it became clear the International
Olympic Committee was going to expel them when they appeared before a
disciplinary commission.
"The athletes have maintained they have done nothing wrong, which is their
right and it is true they have never tested positive [for drugs]," said
François Carrard, the disciplinary commission's spokesman. "But the
commission thought that it had gathered enough material that had they not
withdrawn it could have contemplated sanctions."
After delaying the hearing following a mysterious motorbike crash on the
eve of the opening ceremony, the athletes brought it to a surprise end
themselves.
Rather than present their defence they chose to hand in their
accreditation cards and withdraw soon after the hearing began. They then
announced their decision amid chaotic scenes on the steps of the Hilton
hotel, the IOC's base during the games and the venue for the disciplinary
hearing.
More than 20 armed riot police struggled to keep dozens of journalists at
bay as Kederis addressed the country in which he has gone from being its
most popular man to public enemy No 1.
"I am adamant, I was never notified to go to the Olympic village to take
the test," he said. "My country is organising the Olympics again after 108
years. With a full sense of responsibility, I am withdrawing from the
games."
Kederis also announced he had ended his relationship with Christos Tzekos,
his coach, who had turned him from a mid-ranking 400m sprinter to the
world's best in the 200m.
Thanou's withdrawal soon followed. "It's very difficult for an athlete to
withdraw from the Olympic games, especially when they're in their
homeland," she said.
Giselle Davies, an IOC spokeswoman, said: "The athletes' unequivocal
surrender means that the IOC's sanction of suspension becomes a moot
point."
But the IOC has asked the athletics' governing body, the International
Association of Athletics Federations, to investigate because it believes
Kederis and Thanou were helped to evade drugs tests over a period of time.
The IAAF can suspend the athletes for up to two years if it believes they
deliberately tried to avoid testing.
Kederis has been the subject of speculation since he emerged from
anonymity four years ago to claim the Olympic gold medal in the 200m.
At the same Sydney games, Thanou shocked the world by winning a silver
medal in the 100m behind the American, sprinter, Marion Jones.
Last year both athletes were linked to the FBI's investigation into the
Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative in California whose owner and founder
Victor Conte allegedly supplied a number of top athletes, including Jones
and her partner, the world record holder for the 100m, Tim Montgomery with
banned drugs. The San Jose Mercury News said yesterday two sources
familiar with the case had confirmed Kederis and Thanou were named in an
email exchange between Conte and a Greek coach.
The reference allegedly came in emails in August 2002 involving possible
testing for tetrahydrogestrinone, or THG, a pre viously undetectable
anabolic steroid that has been central to the Balco case.
It is the same drug that the British sprinter Dwain Chambers tested
positive for and was banned for two years.
The newspaper claimed the email was included in an unsealed US government
affidavit as part of the 42-count indictment against Conte and three other
men.
In the email, Conte said he had received word that officials were prepared
to test for THG as far back as 2002. "We might also want to somehow get
this information to the coach for the Greek athletes [Redacted] and
[Redacted] so that nobody tests positive. They seem to be ready to charge
athletes on a'related substances' charge."
The redacted names are those of Kederis and Thanou, the sources said. The
reference to the Greek coach is to Tzekos, said the sources, who have read
the email.
Kederis and Thanou have been in the news non-stop since last Thursday,
when word came that they had missed drug tests last week in Chicago and at
the Olympic village. The Greek Olympic Committee suspended them and their
coach on Saturday, pending the IOC's decision.
Then the city's chief prosecutor opened an investigation into the
motorcycle accident to find out whether they orchestrated it to cover up
the missed tests.
Yesterday Kederis and Thanou decided to jump before they were pushed. "In
a nutshell they said they were innocent but in the interests of the games
and the country would withdraw," said Mr Carrard.
He said the IOC had no authority to question the authenticity of the crash
on the night of the missed test but noted the strange circumstances
surrounding it.
"It's rather unusual for two medallists to be sitting on the same
motorbike on a Thursday night when everyone is trying to confirm their
whereabouts," he said.
The IOC's decision effectively means the end of Kederis and Thanou's
Olympic careers because they were warned if they wanted to compete in
future games then the investigation would be reopened.
[Link]
Other great drugs-test excuses
Guardian
Wednesday August 18, 2004
Last week, Greek athlete Kostas Kederis missed a formal drugs test - which
he claims he wasn't informed about - and then suffered an apparent road
accident. Other athletes have been embroiled in equally high-profile drugs
controversies, as Toby Moses reports.
The controversy surrounding the failure of Greek sprinters Kostas Kederis
and Katerina Thanou to attend a drugs test, and their subsequent apparent
road accident, has overshadowed the first week of the Olympics. But
they're not the first athletes to fall foul of drugs test rules in unusual
circumstances...
Javier Sotomayor, 1992 Olympic champion and world record high jumper,
tested positive for cocaine at the 1999 Pan American games. He claimed he
was the victim of an elaborate conspiracy by the CIA, who "may have put
some substance in his lunch or dinner". He received the support of Cuban
sports officials and the Cuban government, who claimed he was the victim
of "manipulation". Jose Ramon Fernandez, a vice president of the Cuban
council of ministers, said "What is the hairy, ugly, powerful hand behind
this? We do not know yet ... Certain agencies can do anything, even things
we can't think of." Sotomayor tested positive again in 2001 - this time
for nandrolone - but again proclaimed his innocence. "I know that in
doping everyone says they are innocent. But, well, I say that in my case I
am."
Steve Vezina, a Canadian roller hockey player, tested positive for two
stimulants and "an enormously high level" of an anabolic steroid at the
same Pan Am games. As a result the whole Canadian team were stripped of
their gold medals. He claimed that he was unaware that these drugs were
prohibited, saying that he thought the tests were only for amateurs, and
would not apply to a professional player such as himself.
CJ Hunter, Olympic shot-putter and ex-husband of Marion Jones, tested
positive four times for steroids. He claimed that the results were all due
to food and iron supplements he was taking, and in 2000 brought out the
now disgraced scientist Victor Conte, who is at the centre of the THG
scandal, to defend him. Jacques Rogge, IOC president, described Hunter's
explanation as "impossible". He was banned for two years and retired as a
result.
Jobie Dajka was kicked off the Australian Olympic team this year, despite
never testing positive for any drugs. The Australian Olympic committee
believe Dajka had brought the team into disrepute by lying to a doping
inquiry, when he claimed he had never injected himself with anything.
Dajka was disgusted by the result, correctly asserting he was the first
athlete to be banned from the games for simply injecting vitamins.
Michelle Smith-De Bruin shot to fame in 1996, winning three Olympic gold
medals in the pool. However, her urine sample was found to contain a
massive amount of alcohol, used to mask the results of doping. She was
banned, but first claimed that the sample was not hers, and then that
someone had spiked her urine sample. The court of arbitration ruled that
she "was the only person who had the motive and opportunity to manipulate
the sample", and she was subsequently banned for four years.
Ludmila Engquist won the 100m hurdles in the 1991 World Championship, but
tested positive for steroids in 1993. She was banned for four years, but
claimed that her ex-husband was spiking her vitamin supplements. The ban
was lifted by the IAAF in 1995 due to exceptional circumstances, and she
won Olympic gold in 1996. She then turned to bobsledding, where she failed
another drugs test in 2002.
Shane Warne tested positive for a banned diuretic at the 2003 cricket
World Cup. He claimed it was the result of taking a tablet provided by his
mother to reduce the "puffiness" of his face. WADA chief Dick Pound poured
scorn on the excuse, and the ACB claimed Warne and his mother's claims
were "vague and inconsistent", banning him for one year. He made a
successful comeback in 2004.
Linford Christie tested positive for pseudoephendrine in 1988 before the
Seoul Olympics. After blaming the effects of ginseng tea, he was given the
benefit of the doubt by a IAAF committee, which cleared him by 11 votes to
10, and was awarded the silver medal. Christie tested positive for
nandrolone in 1999, when he was semi-retired. Again he proclaimed his
innocence, calling the accusations "ridiculous".
Mark Bosnich, the former Manchester United and Chelsea goalkeeper, was
banned for nine months following a positive test for cocaine. He had his
£42,000-a-week contract at Chelsea ripped up, but claimed the positive
result came about due to a mysterious woman spiking his drink during a
late night in a London bar.
Dennis Mitchell, the 1992 Olympic bronze medallist, tested positive for
the banned hormone testosterone in 1999, and was banned for two years.
However, he claimed there was no wrong-doing on his part and that the
positive result was entirely due to over exuberance the night before the
test - his hormone levels were, he said, greatly increased due to having
sex four times and consuming five bottles of beer.
[Link]
Probe casts doubt on Kenteris "crash"
Thu 19 August
By Karolos Grohmann
ATHENS (Reuters) - Investigators probing a motorcycle accident
reported by the Greek sprinters who have pulled out of the Athens
Olympics in a doping scandal have cast doubt on their story, a
judicial source has said.
Costas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou checked into a hospital and
avoided questioning by Olympic officials for several days, saying
they crashed on a motorcycle hours after missing an eve-of-Games
drugs test last Thursday.
"The investigators have several question marks which for such a
seemingly simple accident normally do not exist," the source said,
adding that the passing driver who said he picked up the injured
athletes had been quizzed at least three times.
The source said there was an eyewitness, who has also not been
publicly identified, but that there remained many questions about
the nature of the incident, including the runners' statement that
they skidded on a patch of oil.
"In his report, the forensic expert did not find the oil patch on
the street on which the bike allegedly slid and crashed," the source
said.
"The investigators are not clear about these points.
"They don't add up for them."
Greek Agency Searches Coach's Office
By DEREK GATOPOULOS
The Associated Press
Friday, August 20, 2004
ATHENS, Greece - The state drug agency searched an office and a warehouse
belonging to the coach of two disgraced Greek sprinters Friday as an
investigation into the pair's missed drug test intensified.
Two inspectors with the National Organization of Medicines - the Greek version
of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration - searched two buildings housing
Christos Tsekos' food supplement company. They were accompanied by an
unidentified prosecutor.
The searches were sparked by a probe into whether 2000 Olympic medalists Kostas
Kenteris and Katerina Thanou tried to avoid a doping test on the eve of the
Athens Games by staging a motorcycle accident.
Kenteris, the 200-meter gold medalist at the Sydney Games, and Thanou, who took
the silver in the 100 meters, could not be found at the Olympic Village for an
Aug. 12 drug test. Hours later, they were in a motorcycle accident that kept
them hospitalized for days.
The athletes deny taking banned substances, and say the accident happened
because they were rushing back to the Olympic Village to be tested.
Earlier Friday, government spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos said the drug agency
was looking for unlicensed substances that were supposed to have been
confiscated last year from Tsekos' company, following a complaint from a
consumer who suffered an allergic reaction to a food supplement.
The warrant issued to the two inspectors allowed them to carry out a
wide-ranging search to record any pharmaceutical substances in the Tsekos
warehouse. The inspectors, accompanied by five police officers and the
prosecutor, were seen taking at least one box from the premises.
Roussopoulos said the search was part of a broader investigation launched by the
Greek health minister after the motorcycle accident "to find any evidence
relating to doping in Greece generally."
Prosecutor Spyros Mouzakitis will supervise the probe into whether there was
criminal wrongdoing in the sprinters' case, receiving reports from traffic
police, a medical examiner and others, judicial officials said. Doctors who
treated the athletes also are due to give testimony.
Appointed by chief Athens prosecutor Dimitris Papagelopoulos, Mouzakitis is a
more senior official than the prosecutor who oversaw the preliminary
investigation. Mouzakitis has expanded the investigation to look more deeply
into Tsekos' past.
Mouzakitis also is examining a possible Greek link to the BALCO laboratories in
San Francisco, which allegedly supplied U.S. athletes with performance-enhancing
substances.
Both Kenteris and Thanou withdrew from the games Wednesday. Thanou apologized to
the Greek people for missing the games, while Kenteris fired Tsekos as his
coach. Greek newspapers have lashed out at the pair, claiming the scandal has
soured the long-awaited Olympic homecoming.
Doubts grow over Kenteris crash
Kathimerini
Friday August 20, 2004
ekathimerini.com
Glyfada’s traffic police will today give the prosecutor their
report into the motorcycle accident that star sprinters Costas
Kenteris and Katerina Thanou said they had in the coastal
suburb last Thursday night.
The purported accident is central
to the mystery of how Greece’s two top hopes in the Olympics
failed to turn up for a mandatory doping test at the Olympic
Village that day. Sources in the prosecutor’s office, however,
say that doubt has been cast on whether there was any accident
at all by the fact that statements made by witnesses and
others involved in the case are not convincing.
If chief prosecutor Dimitris Papangelopoulos decides to open
an official investigation (following this preliminary probe),
this may concern violations of the law regarding the provision
of illegal substances to athletes, hindering anti-doping
controls, making false statements (regarding the crash),
perjury by witnesses, and making false medical statements. Any
criminal charges or call for further statements, however, will
be filed after the Olympics.
Kenteris, winner of the 200-meter in Sydney, and his training
partner Thanou, silver medalist in the 100- meter in the same
Games, both deny they have taken illegal substances. On
Wednesday, they and their coach, Christos Tzekos, handed over
their accreditations to the IOC Disciplinary Commission and
pulled out of the Games. Kenteris also cut his ties with
Tzekos.
By late yesterday, seven doctors and the president of the KAT
trauma hospital where Kenteris and Thanou were kept from late
Thursday to Tuesday morning, had not been called to make a
statement. Prosecutors want to know why the two were in the
hospital for so many days. A medical examiner said he found no
trace of purported head injuries to Kenteris and no injury to
Thanou.
[Link]
Greek police launch doping raid
Reuters
20/08/2004
Eurosport
Greek police raided a warehouse used by the sprint coach at the centre of
the Athens Olympics doping scandal on Friday, investigating whether
Christos Tzekos illegally sold nutritional supplements, a police source
said.
The government, embarrassed again on Friday by news that a Greek
weightlifting bronze medallist had failed a drugs test, made no secret of
following closely an affair that has tarnished its otherwise impressive
hosting of the Olympics.
"(There are) documents in files which verify Mr. Tzekos's company
distributed unlicensed drugs," government spokesman Theodoris Roussopoulos
told reporters after a police visit to Tzekos's company offices found the
premises shut up.
The police source said later that officers had since been able to break
into a warehouse near the office: "The prosecutor, accompanied by police
and National Drugs Organisation officials are now in the building and are
investigating," the source said.
A public prosecutor and drug squad investigators joined the raid on the
store in Athens, he added. They suspect the firm has failed to follow a
year-old court order to destroy controlled substances in line with a
judgment last year that it had been distributing the health supplements
without a licence.
Government spokesman Roussopoulos said a Health Ministry investigation had
shown that Tzekos's company had 641 items of a banned substance which
authorities had ordered destroyed on July 14, 2003 but there was no
evidence of the destruction.
It was not clear which substances were involved.
Kenteris, who has gone from hero to villain in the national consciousness
in the space of a week, has publicly broken with Tzekos, the coach who
transformed him into a champion.
Among several mysteries which prosecutors are investigating over the
affair is a late-night motorcycle crash which Kenteris and Thanou said
they suffered hours after missing the tests.
Sources close to the investigation have cast doubt on their version of the
incident, which put them in hospital -- and beyond the reach of Olympic
drug testers -- for several days.
A police said on Thursday that traffic police had already handed their
report on the accident to Athens prosecutors.
It was not known when the prosecutor would make a decision on whether
charges should be laid.
The traffic police's file included reports by a forensic expert and a
medical examiner, and statements from a witness, a passing driver and the
two athletes. A source said forensic tests had found no trace of the oil
patch which Kenteris said caused him to skid and lose control of the bike.
[Link]
Skandal im Skandal
Takis Tsafos/DPA
20. August 2004
http://www.stern.de
Vertuschung, Betrug und Doping. Immer mehr Details der Affäre
um die griechischen Sprinter Kostas Kenteris und Ekaterini Thanou
werden bekannt. Unterdessen gibt es einen neuen Dopingfall im
griechischen Team.
Was bisher nur vermutet wurde, erhält immer mehr Beweiskraft: Der
Doping-Skandal um die beiden von den Athen-Spielen
ausgeschlossenen griechischen Spitzen-Athleten Kostas Kenteris und
Ekaterini Thanou sowie ihres Trainers Christos Tzekos sollte mit
krimineller Energie vertuscht werden.
So haben Experten der griechischen Polizei in der Athener Vorstadt
Glyfada keine Spuren des angeblichen Motorrad-Unfalls der beiden
Test-Verweigerer Kenteris und Thanou entdeckt. Dies ergibt sich aus
einem Sachverständigenbericht, der am Donnerstag der
Staatsanwaltschaft in Athen vorgelegt worden ist.
Insgesamt wird immer deutlicher, dass die beiden gefallenen
Sporthelden nach der Verweigerung einer Dopingprobe vor acht Tagen
einen Unfall vorgetäuscht und sich ohne ernsthafte Blessuren
unter wesentlicher Mithilfe in ein Krankenhaus geflüchtet haben.
Nach einem Bericht der Zeitung "TO WIMA" haben die
Sachverständigen am angeblichen Unfallort "nur eines von insgesamt
fünf Merkmalen" eines Unfalls festgestellt. Dabei handelt es sich um
einige Beulen am Motorrad, die in jüngster Zeit entstanden sein
könnten. Dagegen gebe es keine Brems- oder Rutschspuren auf der
Fahrbahn und keine Splitter, die noch Tage nach einem Unfall zu
finden sein müssten.
Aus diesem Grund wird der Unfall in dem Polizeibericht lediglich als
"der gemeldete" Unfall bezeichnet.
Ärzte scheinen in Skandal verwickelt
In den Skandal scheinen auch Ärzte des Unfallkrankenhauses KAT
verwickelt zu sein. Dorthin eilten Kenteris und Thanou nach dem
angeblichen Unfall zur Behandlung. Die Mediziner sollen von einem
der Chefärzte telefonisch die Anweisung erhalten haben, Kenteris und
Thanou "egal, was sie haben" für mindestens 48 Stunden aufzunehmen.
Der Anruf sei noch vor ihrer Ankunft eingegangen. Zum Zeitpunkt
des Anrufs befand sich der Chefarzt im Urlaub.
Unterdessen haben Beamte der griechischen Arzneimittel-Behörde
(EOF) am Freitag vergeblich versucht, Kontrollen in Lagerräumen und
Büros der Firma des Trainers Tzekos durchzuführen. Die Büros waren
geschlossen, Tzekos war unauffindbar.
Die Kontrollen waren durch Aussagen des griechischen
Gesundheitsministers Nikitas Kaklamanis ausgelöst worden. Der hatte
am Donnerstagabend in einem Radio- Interview geäußert, dass er eine
"sehr interessante" Tzekos-Akte der EOF entdeckt und der
Staatsanwaltschaft zugeleitet habe.
Dopingfund bereits Anfang 2003
Aus dieser Akte ergibt sich, dass die EOF bereits am 19. April 2003
bei einer nicht angekündigten Kontrolle in den Tzekos-Büros 640
Packungen mit gesundheitsgefährdenden Mitteln wie Anabolika
entdeckt hatte.
Damals hatte die EOF eine Geldstrafe von 14 800 Euro verhängt.
Zu einem Gerichtsverfahren war es jedoch damals "erstaunlicherweise"
nicht gekommen, berichtet die griechische Presse am Freitag.
Nachdem am Donnerstag bereits mehrere Gewichtheber wegen
Dopings von den Spielen ausgeschlossen wurden, droht
Olympia-Gastgeber Griechenland ein neuerlicher Doping-Skandal.
Nach Informationen mehrerer griechischer Sender ist der
Olympia-Dritte im Gewichtheben, Leonidas Sampanis, bei einer
Dopingkontrolle positiv getestet worden. Bei dem 32-Jährigen seien
erhöhte Testosteron-Werte festgestellt worden. Sampanis droht die
Aberkennung der Bronzemedaille in der Klasse bis 62 kg und der
Ausschluss von den Olympischen Spielen.
Der griechische Chef de Mission, Ioannis Papadogiannakis, sei von der
Welt-Antidoping-Agentur WADA darüber informiert worden, dass die
A-Probe bei Sampanis ein positives Ergebnis ergeben hätte.
Der Athlet führt dies darauf zurück, dass er generell erhöhte
Testosteron-Werte habe. Sampanis hatte am vergangenen Montag mit
einer Zweikampfleistung von 312,5 Punkten den dritten Platz belegt.
Sollte die B-Probe ebenfalls positiv ausfallen, würde der Viertplatzierte
Jose Israel Rubio (Venezuela) nachträglich Bronze erhalten.
Auch die usbekische Kugelstoßerin Olga Tschukina ist am
vergangenen Samstag positiv auf das anabole Steroid Clenbuterol
getestet worden. Dies gab das Internationale Olympische Komitee
(IOC) am Freitag bekannt. Tschukina, die in der olympischen
Entscheidung am Mittwoch in der Qualifikation mit 14,44 m
ausgeschieden war, wurde von den Athen-Spielen ausgeschlossen.
Greeks find banned drugs in raid
Sat 21 August, 2004
By Ellie Tzortzi
ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek police have found nutritional supplements
containing banned stimulants and steroids in a raid on premises used
by the sprint coach at the centre of the Athens Olympics doping
scandal, a judicial source says.
Officers from the EOF national drugs squad, investigating whether
Tzekos had distributed controlled substances without a licence
through his nutritional supplements business, had found
ephedrine-type stimulants and anabolic steroids on Friday.
"Officers found 1400 boxes of nutritional supplements, most
containing stimulants of the ephedrine class, some containing
advanced anabolics," the source told Reuters on Saturday, adding
that an official EOF announcement was expected in a week.
"The legal grounds for the raid are that he did not have a licence
to sell these products. But more importantly these boxes are the
trump card in the whole anti-doping investigation," the source said
of the criminal inquiry into the sprinters' affair.
"It both embarrasses and raises questions about all the athletes he
trained because basically, their trainer had this great big stock of
drugs in his shop."
YEAR-OLD CASE
An element that may perturb international sports regulators,
however, is that 641 of the boxes of supplements had already been
recorded as containing ephedrine by the EOF last year.
Tzekos's firm had been fined for stocking them without a licence and
ordered to destroy them. But the company had appealed and the case
was stalled in the Greek legal system.
Ephedrine, related to amphetamines or "speed", is not in itself
illegal in Greece and is often an ingredient in widely sold
nutritional supplements that claim to burn fat.
It is, however, on the list of substances the World Anti-Doping
Agency (WADA) bans from use in competitive sport.
The United States has banned supplements containing ephedrine,
linking it to deaths from heart attacks or strokes.
Anabolic steroids, which help build muscle, are also not in
themselves illegal in Greece but are banned in sport.
The government, embarrassed again on Friday by news that a Greek
weightlifting bronze medallist had failed a drugs test, made no
secret of following closely an affair that has tarnished its
otherwise impressive hosting of the Olympics.
"(There are) documents in files which verify Mr. Tzekos's company
distributed unlicensed drugs," government spokesman Theodoris
Roussopoulos told reporters on Friday.
Razzia beim Dopingtrainer
21. August 2004
SPIEGEL ONLINE
Der Dopingskandal um den griechischen Sprinttrainer Christos Tzekos weitet
sich aus. Bei einer Razzia in den Räumen des Trainers wurden in der
vergangenen Nacht 1400 Packungen mit verbotenen Substanzen gefunden.
Athen - Zunächst standen die Beamten der griechischen Arzneimittel-Behörde
(EOF) gestern vor verschlossenen Türen. Die Büros und Lagerräume von
Christos Tzekos waren verschlossen, der ehemalige Trainer der Sprinter
Kenteris und Thanou unauffindbar. Die Polizei brach daraufhin in das Lager
ein und stellte dort rund 1400 Packungen mit überwiegend ephedrin- und
steroidhaltigen Substanzen sicher. Das berichteten übereinstimmend die
Athener Radiostationen heute Morgen.
Der griechische Gesundheitsminister Nikitas Kaklamanis hatte die Kontrolle
ausgelöst. In einem Radio-Interview hatte er vorgestern gesagt, dass er
eine "sehr interessante" Tzekos-Akte der EOF entdeckt und der
Staatsanwaltschaft zugeleitet habe.
Aus der Akte ergibt sich, dass die EOF bereits am 19. April 2003 bei einer
nicht angekündigten Kontrolle in den Büros des Trainers 640 Packungen mit
Gesundheitsgefährdenden Mitteln wie Anabolika entdeckt hatte. Tzekos soll
verschiedene Trainingsgruppen und Klubs mit bis zu 350 Ampullen versorgt
haben. Damals hatte die EOF eine Geldstrafe von 14.800 Euro verhängt, zu
einem Gerichtsverfahren war es allerdings nicht gekommen.
Die bei Tzekos gefundenen Steroide sind in Griechenland nicht
grundsätzlich verboten. Der Handel mit den Substanzen darf aber nur mit
einer besonderen Lizenz stattfinden, die der Trainer nicht hatte.
Nachdem der Doping-Skandal in der griechischen Olympia-Mannschaft immer
größere Formen annimmt, soll der Teamchef der Gastgeber, Ioannis
Papadogiannakis in der vergangenen Nacht zurückgetreten sein. Wie der
Athener Nachrichtensender SKAI berichtet, sei der Rücktritt vom
griechischen NOK aber nicht angenommen worden.
[Link]
Investigators: Anabolic steroids found in Greek coach's
warehouse
PATRICK QUINN
Associated Press
Monday, August 23, 2004
Small amounts of anabolic steroids were found in a warehouse
used by the coach of two Greek sprinters at the center of a
doping scandal, government officials said Monday.
The search of coach Christos Tsekos' facilities last week was
part of an investigation into whether 2000 Olympic medalists
Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou tried to avoid a doping
test on the eve of the Athens Games.
Also found was a small batch of medicine with steroids that
came from the United States, Bulgaria and Germany, according
to Greece's National Organization of Medicines, its equivalent
of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It didn't say what
kind of steroids they were.
Tsekos' lawyer, Michalis Dimitrakopoulos, said the supplements
in the warehouse were legal.
"There is nothing illegal and nothing prohibited in the
containers that Mr. Tsekos' company imports," he said.
"An investigation is ongoing from the responsible ministries
and the judicial probe is ongoing, the findings from the
judicial probe are going to the prosecutor. The next steps
will be decided by the government and the government will
announce them at the appropriate time," government spokesman
Theodoros Roussopoulos said.
Kenteris, the 200-meter gold medalist at the Sydney Games, and
Thanou, who took the silver in the 100 meters, could not be
found at the Olympic Village for an Aug. 12 drug test. Hours
later, they were in a suspicious motorcycle accident that kept
them hospitalized for four days.
The athletes denied taking banned substances, and said the
accident happened because they were rushing back to the
Olympic village to be tested. The sprinters later withdrew
from the Olympics, and Kenteris cut ties with Tsekos.
[Link]
Greek Sprinters' Medical Records Seized
By PATRICK QUINN
AP
Wednesday, August 25, 2004
ATHENS, Greece - Prosecutors seized the hospital records Wednesday of two Greek
sprinting stars who withdrew from the Olympics after they missed a doping test
and were involved in a suspicious motorcycle accident, a government source said.
The source told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity that prosecutors
visited the KAT trauma hospital and left with the records of Kostas Kenteris and
Katerina Thanou.
Kenteris, the surprise 200-meter gold medalist in 2000, and Thanou, who took
silver in the 100 meters in Sydney, could not be found at the Olympic Village
for an Aug. 12 drug test. Hours later, they said they were involved in a
motorcycle accident that happened because they were rushing back to the Olympic
village to be tested. They spent several days in the KAT hospital with cuts and
bruises, and later withdrew from the Olympics.
Now, prosecutors are investigating the motorcycle accident and whether the two
national stars were deliberately trying to avoid drug tests. Kenteris and Thanou
have denied any wrongdoing.
In another development, a man who said he witnessed the accident was arrested
Wednesday after police discovered he had an outstanding warrant against him for
an unrelated fraud conviction, a police and court source told the AP.
At least two people, neither publicly identified, have told police they
witnessed the accident - including one who said he drove them to the hospital.
All the witnesses talked to authorities after the two athletes were released
from the hospital.
As part of the probe, fraud inspectors with Greece's Finance Ministry searched
the offices of the sprinters' coach, Christos Tsekos, for six hours Monday,
seizing documents and computers from his food supplements company in Athens.
Last week, inspectors from Greece's National Organization of Medicines raided
the offices and a warehouse, and confiscated some items that they said contained
small amounts of anabolic steroids.
Government spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos said Wednesday that the sports
ministry gave prosecutors records indicating that a number of companies,
including one belonging to Tsekos, had allegedly received unauthorized subsidies
from Greece's former Socialist government.
"The prosecutor will announce the results of his investigation when it is over,"
Roussopolos said when asked about the alleged subsidies, which he said were
worth about $1.8 million.
Roussopoulos refused to say what the subsidies were for.
Two leading Greek newspapers, To Vima and Eleftherotypia, have in recent days
published reports that the former Socialist government, which lost to the
conservatives in March elections, allegedly were approached by Tsekos with plans
to help train numerous Greek athletes for a fee.
Tsekos and his lawyer have not commented publicly on the reports and calls to
their offices by the AP were not immediately returned. Senior officials in the
former Socialist government also have denied the claims.
Sprinters’ Probe Begins – Witness Arrested
Thursday, August 26, 2004
(GamesBids.com)
Track’s international governing body launched an investigation
Thursday into a doping scandal involving two Greek sprinters who
withdrew from the Olympics following a suspicious motorcycle
accident hours after missing a drug test.
While the IAAF investigates, the two sprinters, Kostas Kenteris and
Katerina Thanou are free to participate in competitions, said IAAF
spokesman Nick Davies.
Under IAAF rules, athletes face sanctions in the event of three
drug-test “no-shows” in 18 months. The IAAF is also looking into a
third possible case involving Kenteris in Israel in late July.
Meanwhile, Agence France Presse reports that a man who claimed to
have witnessed a motorcycle accident involving the sprinters has
been arrested on suspicion of making a false statement, police said.
Police did not identify the man but said he was a convicted criminal
who had recently served an 18-month prison sentence for fraud and
identify theft.
The witness had testified in a statement to police that he had seen
Kenteris and Thanou thrown from their motorcycle in a crash on
August 12, just hours after the couple had failed to appear for a
mandatory drug test.
The arrested man was one of two witnesses to the accident who had
come forward, neither of whom has been deemed credible.
Initial results of an inquiry have indicated either the accident did
not take place at all, or that the athletes deliberately crashed the
bike in order to give themselves injuries.
A medical expert, Philippos Koutsaftis, who examined the athletes,
concluded that if there had been an accident, the motorbike must
have been travelling at low speed, a source told Agency France
Presse.
A statement issued by the hospital on August 13 said Kenteris
suffered “cranial Trauma”, whiplash and open wounds on his lower
leg. Thanou sustained abdominal bruises, injuries to her right hip
and a muscular injury to her right upper leg.
The Associated Press says there have been reports that the statement
does not match Koutsaftis’ report. He examined the athletes on
August 16.
His report said he noticed a few cuts on Kenteris’ right leg and
left elbow, and detected no significant injuries toThanou four days
after the accident.
A report in the Ta Nea newspaper said that doctors in the KAT
hospital where the sprinters were taken had been pressured by senior
hospital officials to keep the athletes in “whatever may be wrong
with them”.
As part of the government probe fraud inspectors with Greece’s
Finance Ministry searched the offices of the sprinters’ coach for
six hours Monday, seizing documents and computers from his food
supplements company in Athens.
And last week, inspectors from Greece’s National Organization of
Medicines raided the offices and a warehouse and confiscated some
items that they said contained small amounts of anabolic steroids.
If the IAAF’s doping inquiry board finds sufficient evidence of
missed tests, the case will go back to the Greek athletics
federation Segas, which will conduct a hearing. IAAF can reject a
finding by the federation.
“It will take weeks, but hopefully not months”, said the IAAF
spokesman.
[Link]
2 2 - 1 1 - 2 0 0 5
Ein Urteil im Fall Kenteris gibt es noch immer nicht
Der Fluchtweg von Kenteris wird immer länger
Von Torsten Haselbauer
22. November 2005
Franfurter Allgemeine
Sind sie nun der Flucht vor Dopingkontrolleuren
angeklagt oder nicht? Höchstwahrscheinlich werden Ekaterini Thanou,
Kostas Kenteris und Christos Tsekos sich für das Schurkenstück, das
sie sich am Nachmittag des 12. August 2004, einen Tag vor der
Eröffnungsfeier der Olympischen Sommerspiele in Athen, leisteten,
vor einem ordentlichen Gericht verantworten müssen.
Aber offiziell ist das, entgegen den übers ganze Jahr verteilten
anderslautenden Meldungen, noch immer nicht. Und das liegt nicht nur
an der nahezu kriminellen Findigkeit, mit der sich die beiden
Sprinter unter Mithilfe ihres Trainers durch einen wohl fingierten
Motorradunfall aus der Bredouille zu retten versuchten. Auch die
verschlungenen Wege der griechischen Justiz dehnen das Verfahren.
1.400 „Einheiten” Anabolika und anderen Dopingsubstanzen
Der Oberstaatsanwalt am Athener Landgericht, Dimitris
Papagelopoulos, leitete damals gleich ein Strafverfahren gegen die
beiden angeblichen Unfallopfer sowie ihren Trainer ein und
erstattete Anzeige. Es ging zunächst um die Vortäuschung eines
Unfalls und eine vorsätzliche Falschaussage.
Denn noch auf dem
Krankenbett im Hospital wurden die Olympiazweite über 100 Meter und
der Olympiasieger über 200 Meter von Sydney vernommen. Beide blieben
bei ihrer Version des Unfallhergangs samt Vorgeschichte.
Papagelopoulos forderte im Anschluß an die erste Vernehmung den
Athener Staatsanwalt für Sportpolitische Angelegenheiten, Spyros
Mouzakitis, auf, die Ermittlungen fortan zu leiten und
schnellstmöglich einen Bericht zu verfassen.
Mittlerweile, im September 2004, wurden die Anschuldigungen gegen
Leichtathletiktrainer Tsekos noch erweitert. Der Vorwurf lautete
jetzt auch auf "Besitz, Lagerung und Handel mit verbotenen
Substanzen"; denn bei einer Durchsuchung der Geschäftsräume von
Tsekos am 21. August 2004 beschlagnahmten zwei Beamte der
griechischen Gesundheitsbehörde (EOF) rund 1.400 "Einheiten" von
Anabolika und anderen Dopingsubstanzen.
Hinweise auf systematisches „Staatsdoping”
Gegen zwei angebliche Unfallzeugen und gegen sieben Ärzte des
Krankenhauses wurden jetzt ebenfalls die Ermittlungen wegen des
Verdachts der Falschaussage aufgenommen. Mouzakitis vernahm in den
folgenden Monaten ungezählte Zeugen - und natürlich auch und unter
Eid mehrmals die Hauptbeschuldigten Thanou, Kenteris und Tsekos.
Innerhalb von knapp drei Monaten, für griechische Verhältnisse
ungewöhnlich schnell, verfaßte Mouzakitis seine
Untersuchungsergebnisse und legte diese seinem Vorgesetzten
Papagelopoulos vor. Der geheime Bericht ging zudem an einen
parlamentarischen Untersuchungsausschuß.
Er beinhaltete nicht nur
die Stellungnahme des Staatsanwalts zu den Vorwürfen gegen Tsekos,
Thanou und Kenteris. Im Zuge der Ermittlungen kamen dem eifrigen
Mouzakitis zudem genügend Informationen zu Ohren, die auf ein
systematisches "Staatsdoping" in Griechenland hinwiesen. Aber das
ist eine andere Geschichte.
Oberstaatsanwalt Papagelopoulos entschloß sich, die Sache
weiterzuverfolgen. Mit den Ermittlungen wurde im Frühjahr 2005 der
Athener Untersuchungsrichter Andreas Karaflos beauftragt. Ihm eilt
der Ruf eines "scharfen Hundes" voraus, was bei Staatsanwälten auch
in Athen als Qualitätsmerkmal gilt.
In der vergangenen Woche hat
Karaflos in Athen seinen Bericht präsentiert. Er empfiehlt eine
Anklage wegen der Vortäuschung eines Unfalls, der Falschaussage und
des Meineids. Die sieben Ärzte des Krankenhauses sind aus dem
Schneider.
Damit ist das Ermittlungsverfahren offiziell
abgeschlossen. Doch bevor es zur Eröffnung des Hauptverfahrens mit
einer Terminansetzung kommt, wird noch einige Zeit vergehen. Die
Empfehlung des Staatsanwaltes Karaflos wird nämlich jetzt noch einem
Athener Richterrat vorgelegt. Erst das dreiköpfige Gremium
entscheidet letztendlich über die Zulassung einer Anklage. In der
Regel folgt der Richterrat den Empfehlungen des Staatsanwalts.
Innerhalb der nächsten drei bis fünf Monate wird mit einer
Entscheidung des Gremiums gerechnet.
Imbißstube in Hellenikon
Das ist der unvollkommene Stand der Dinge in Athen. Es gibt jedoch
noch ein anderes laufendes Verfahren, bei dem Thanou und Kenteris um
ihren angeblich guten Ruf kämpfen: vor dem Internationalen
Sportgerichtshof (CAS) in Lausanne.
Denn noch vor den Spielen soll
sich das Sprinterduett dreimal Trainingstests entzogen haben,
innerhalb von nur zwei Monaten in Tel Aviv, Chicago und eben Athen.
Im Dezember 2004 sprach der Internationale Leichtathletik-Verband
(IAAF) eine provisorische Sperre aus. Im März hob eine
Disziplinarkommission des griechischen Leichtathletikverbandes
(Segas) diese vorläufige Sperre wieder auf.
Die Schuld am
Nichterscheinen zur Dopingprobe der Athleten wurde einzig ihrem
Trainer Tsekos zugewiesen, "bei dem die Informationskette abriß".
Gegen Tsekos wurde ein vierjähriges Berufsverbot als
Leichtathletiktrainer verhängt. Er gilt seitdem in Hellas als
Sündenbock. Gegen das Segas-Urteil legte wiederum die IAAF beim CAS
Berufung ein.
Ekaterini Thanou hat ihre Karriere beendet. Kenteris trennte sich
schon während der Olympischen Spiele von seinem langjährigen Coach
Tsekos, der sich jetzt im Athener Küstenvorort Hellenikon über
Wasser hält: Er hat eine Imbißstube eröffnet.
[Link]
Olympics: Athens prosecutors ask for US help in Kenteris drugs case
10 September 2004
AFP
ATHENS : Prosecutors investigating the Kostadinos Kenteris
Olympic doping scandal made an official request for help from
their American counterparts.
In particular they have asked for information on BALCO, the
drugs laboratory suspected of producing and distributing the
banned anabolic steroid THG.
This request for help is the latest step in the Greek Supreme
Court's probe into Kenteris, the Greek sprinter who with his
training partner Ekaterini Thanou missed a scheduled drugs
test the day before the Games started last month.
Kenteris, 200m gold medallist in Sydney and Thanou, runner-up
in the women's 100m four years ago, quit the Games in disgrace
on August 18 after spending time in hopsital recovering from a
mysterious motorbike accident.
Legal sources say they could have faked the crash as an excuse
for their non-appearance at the control.
Prosecutors are also investigating the nutritional supplement
businesses of the sprinters' controversial coach Christos
Tzekos, who Kenteris parted company with after withdrawing
from the Games.
Three US prosecutors, who worked on the Balco doping scandal
have already forwarded information to their opposite numbers
in Greece.
While both athletes claim they are clean, they face an
investigation by the sport's governing body the International
Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) into missing the
tests.
"The purpose of the inquiry is to establish whether sufficient
evidence exists to charge any person with a doping violation
or other breach of IAAF rules," the IAAF said on August 26.
"If such evidence exists, disciplinary proceedings will be
initiated in accordance with the standard procedures laid down
in IAAF rules."
Missing a drugs test without a valid reason constitutes a
doping offence which is punishable with a two-year ban.
Also in August IAAF president Lamine Diack revealed the Greek
duo had missed three mandatory tests this year alone: in Tel
Aviv on July 27-28 which the World Anti-Doping Agency was to
conduct on behalf of the IAAF, another in Chicago on August
10-11 where they provided a false address, and the test in
Athens. The two missed tests in August were under the auspices
of the IOC.
It was also revealed that the pair had undergone two tests
this year, one in May and one in June while Kenteris underwent
three last year and Thanou two, though they and Tzekos
misinformed the IAAF of their whereabouts last year saying
they would be in Crete when in fact they were in Qatar.
Tzekos has been at the centre of a drugs scandal before. In
the late 1990s he was banned for two years by the IAAF after
barring the way out of a hotel in Dortmund, Germany, when a
team turned up to test a group of his athletes, which at that
time included Thanou but not Kenteris.
[Link]
Tzekos says sprinters clean
ekathimerini.com
September 21, 2004
Christos Tzekos, coach of top sprinters Costas Kenteris and
Katerina Thanou who were forced to withdraw from the Athens
Olympics, testified yesterday before prosecutors who are
investigating why the two missed an anti-doping test and the
circumstances of a motorcycle accident they claim to have been
involved in.
Kenteris has severed ties with Tzekos. He and Thanou testified
earlier this month.
Like them, Tzekos claims he has done
nothing wrong. The coach is also under investigation for
nutritional supplements that were found in a warehouse of his
and which the National Pharmaceutical Organization (EOF) says
contain anabolics and steroids.
In a memorandum to prosecutors
Spyros Mouzakitis and Athena Theodoropoulou, Tzekos said the
nutritional supplements had been imported legally, though he
admitted that they did not have the necessary permit from EOF.
This means that he was not allowed to distribute, sell or
administer the supplements to anyone.
Regarding Kenteris and Thanou, Tzekos told reporters: “In the
10 years that I have been a coach, I have spent endless hours
coaching these kids. They have got tired and suffered. Anxiety
and weariness have been their companions and nothing else.”
He
said he never gave them any pharmaceutical substances and
claimed he learned of their purported crash when they were
already at the KAT Hospital. He said that on Aug. 12, he
learned only at 7 p.m. that anti-doping inspectors were
looking for his sprinters and could only notify them at 10.30
p.m. because their cell phones were switched off.
Tzekos
denied any relationship with the US BALCO laboratory which is
suspected of supplying athletes with illegal substances. “When
you are at the top, much is said about you, you know,” he
said, without elaborating.
[Link]
Kenteris and Thanou shirk face-to-face testimony
AFP
September 30, 2004
Greek sprinters and doping suspects Kostadinos Kenteris and Ekaterini
Thanou did not appear before Greek prosecutors to testify about their
failure to show up at a mandatory drugs test on the eve of the Olympics
last month, judiciary sources said.
Instead, their lawyer Michalis Dimitrakopoulos submitted a joint statement
in which the two disgraced runners reaffirmed they did not flee the drugs
test on August 12.
Kenteris and Thanou also denied they faked a motorbike accident to delay
facing drug testers a few hours later. The two training partners offered
four eye-witnesses to back up their claim.
Kenteris and Thanou had appeared before Greek prosecutors Spyros
Mouzakitis and Athena Theodoropoulou to testify as witnesses in the affair
at the end of August.
But after a first round of testimonies by sports officials, doctors and
several other witnesses, the two prosecutors summoned Kenteris and Thanou
to testify again as suspects for obstructing anti-doping tests and faking
an accident.
Kenteris, 200m gold medallist in Sydney and Thanou, runner-up in the
women's 100m four years ago, quit the Games on August 18 after spending
time in hospital recovering from the alleged motorbike accident.
In their statement, Kenteris and Thanou claimed they were informed of the
August 12 drugs test only four hours after anti-doping officials arrived
at the Olympic athletes' village, where the two sprinters had checked in
earlier in the day.
By the time they were sought, Kenteris and Thanou claimed they had already
left the village to pick up personal belongings from their homes. Nobody
from the Greek Olympic team allegedly informed them they were wanted for
the test. But Greek sports officials told prosecutors they had put the two
athletes' coach Christos Tzekos on notice.
Tzekos testified Monday. The controversial coach is also under
investigation as a suspect for distributing banned steroids through his
nutritional supplement businesses.
Mouzakitis and Theodoropoulou have sought assistance from US officials
prosecuting California-based laboratory BALCO, which is accused of
distributing illegal performance enhancing drugs. Speaking to reporters
after his testimony, Tzekos denied he had any link with BALCO.
[Link]
Neuer Trainer-Guru für Kostas Kenteris
Blick Online
28.10.2004
ATHEN – Der griechische Sprintstar Kostas Kenteris, der bei den Olympischen Spielen in Athen für einen handfesten
Doping-Skandal gesorgt hatte, hat einen neuen Trainer: den dubiosen Giorgos Panagiotopoulos.
Der 200-Meter-Olympaisieger von Sydney 2000 hatte sich ebenso wie seine Sprinter-Kollegin Ekaterini Thanou nach
dem Doping-Eklat am Tag vor der Eröffnung der Sommerspiele von seinem damaligen Trainer Christos Tzekos, der in
Griechenland einen florierenden Handel mit Anabolika betreiben soll, getrennt.
Der neue Trainer von Kenteris ist freilich auch nicht über alle Doping-Zweifel erhaben: Die
400-Meter-Hürden-Läuferin Fani Halkia verbesserte unter seiner Anleitung ihre Bestzeit innert eines Jahres
um dreieinhalb Sekunden und stürmte in Athen zum Olympiasieg.
Währenddessen bereitet die Athener Staatsanwaltschaft gegen Kenteris und Thanou eine Anklage vor. Dem Duo wird
vorgeworfen, einen Motorrad-Unfall vorgetäuscht zu haben, um sein Nichterscheinen bei der Dopingkontrolle zu
rechtfertigen.
Beide waren bei Olympia letztlich nicht gestartet. Auch gegen Ex-Coach Tzekos soll wegen des Besitzes illegaler
Substanzen Anklage erhoben werden.
[Link]
|
[Definitie:] "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance."
(Wilmore and Costill) 
