Greek police seize 641 boxes
2004-08-21 16:32
Athens - Greek officials took 641 boxes containing food supplements with the stimulant ephedrine from a warehouse used by Christos Tsekos, the coach at the centre of a doping scandal involving star sprinters Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou, a judicial source said on Saturday.
A prosecutor and two inspectors with the National Organisation of Medicines, the Greek version of the United States Food and Drug Administration, searched Tsekos' offices and warehouse on Friday. The search was part of a probe into whether 2000 Olympic medalists Kenteris and Thanou tried to avoid a doping test on the eve of the Athens Games by staging a motorcycle accident.
A Greek judicial source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the food supplements - which are unlicensed in Greece - were ordered taken from Tsekos last year but the coach got them back somehow.
80% of Greeks cast blame on Tsekos
Officials first became aware of the issue last year when a consumer complained about getting ill from the supplements. Tsekos was fined $18 300. Michalis Dimitrakopoulos, Tsekos' lawyer, said all the imports were legal and there were documents to prove it.
Ephedrine is used in weight-reducing formulas and other medicines, and a version of the drug was linked to the death of Baltimore Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler. It's on the list of banned substances for Olympic athletes.
Kenteris, the 200m gold medalist at the Sydney Games, and Thanou, who took the silver in the 100m, could not be found at the Olympic Village for an August 12 drug test. Hours later, they were in a motorcycle accident that kept them hospitalised 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. The sprinters have withdrawn from the Olympics, and Kenteris has cut ties with Tsekos.
The Greeks have another problem in weightlifting. Leonidas Sampanis, who won a bronze medal this week and took silvers in 2000 and 1996, has tested positive for drugs in an initial sample.
The drug scandals have become a national embarrassment, according to a new poll.
The survey, conducted by Metron Analysis for the financial newspaper Imerisia, found that 85,2% of those questioned in a nationwide telephone poll agreed with Greek President Costis Stephanopoulos, who said the Kenteris-Thanou problem was "a great embarrassment for the games."
Slightly more than 70% of respondents blamed the athletes for mishandling the situation and nearly 80% also cast the blame on Tsekos.
Another 84.3% of Greeks questioned said performance-enhancing drugs must be eliminated from sports. No margin of error was given for the poll.
- AP