Meanwhile, on the Olympics doping front
Sprinter Katerina Thanou is determined to run for Greece at the Beijing Olympics. And on Friday -- during her first public comments in years -- she said lingering doubts about whether the International Olympic Committee will let her compete are unfair.
Thanou, 33, ran in the 2000 Sydney Games, but served a two-year ban after missing a drug test before the 2004 Athens Olympics. She made the 2008 Greek national team after qualifying in the 100 meters.
An IOC disciplinary committee is due to meet on the night before the Games begin to decide whether she can participate. And Thanou is upset about that.
“There is no official charge against me, so why am I being asked if I want to take part in the Olympics even though I have qualified under the rules?” Thanou said at a Friday news conference in Athens. "I have been maligned and my career was damaged ... This is still going on. Enough is enough. I have never tested positive for any (banned substance) ... I don’t think any other runners are subjected to this.”
Reuters, meanwhile, reports that the IOC isn't likely to decide before the Beijing Games who will get the five Sydney 2000 Olympics medals that have been stripped from jailed U.S. sprinter Marion Jones.
An IOC decision had been expected during an Aug. 2-3 executive board meeting, but an IOC official told Reuters on Friday that “a decision on this is unlikely to be taken during the board meeting here. It will most likely be taken after the Beijing Olympic Games.”
Jones, who won three golds and two bronze medals in Sydney, last year acknowledged that she took drugs to boost her performance. She was sentenced to six months in prison for lying to federal investigators.
The IOC subsequently stripped Jones of the medals and is expected to reallocate them to other athletes.
Thanou is one of the athletes who could be allocated a medal.
-- Greg Johnson
Photos: Top insert: Katerina Thanou spoke during a Friday press conference in Athens. Credit: STR/AFP/Getty Images
Bottom insert: Olympian Marion Jones after pleading guilty to federal charges on Oct. 5, 2007 in White Plains, N.Y. Credit: Mary Altaffer/Associated Press Photo
