Athletes' medical files seized

2004-08-25 17:11

Athens, Greece - Prosecutors seized the hospital records on Wednesday of two disgraced sprinters who withdrew from the Olympics after missing a doping test and crashing on a motorcycle.

Prosecutors Spyros Mouzakitis and Athina Theodopoupou visited Athens' KAT trauma hospital and left with files containing the hospitalisation records of Kostas Kenteris, the 200-metre gold medalist in 2000, and Katerina Thanou, who took silver in the 100 metres in Sydney, a source in the Athens prosecutors office said.

The two athletes crashed on a motorcycle and were hospitalised a few hours after they could not be found at the Olympic Village for a drug test.

They were hospitalised for four days with cuts and bruises, which prolonged an International Olympic Committee investigation into whether they evaded the test.

A medical examiner who examined them, however, reportedly did not think their injuries merited hospitalisation.

They have denied any wrongdoing.

An investigation ordered by chief Athens prosecutor Dimitris Papangeolopoulos has expanded far beyond the suspicious motorcycle accident.

Fraud inspectors with Greece's Finance Ministry searched the offices of their coach, Chritos Tsekos, for six hours on Monday, seizing documents and computers from his food supplements company near central Athens.

The search of Tsekos' facilities was part of an inquiry into whether Kenteris and Thanou tried to avoid being tested for banned substances.

Last week, inspectors from Greece's National Organisation of Medicines, or EOF - the Greek equivalent of the US Food and Drug Administration - also raided the offices and a warehouse and confiscated some of the products distributed by Tsekos' company.

On Monday, the agency announced that small amounts of anabolic steroids were found in samples seized during the raids.

Government spokesperson Theodoros Roussopoulos said on Wednesday that the sports ministry gave Papagelopoulos records indicating that a number of companies, including one belonging to Tsekos, had allegedly received unauthorised subsidies from the 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 $1.8m.

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 Associated Press were not immediately returned. Senior officials in the former Socialist government also have denied the claims.

- AP