Greek coach in huge drug bust

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Athens - Banned anabolic steroids were found in a raid on a storehouse belonging to the coach of disgraced Greek sprinters Kostadinos Kenteris and Ekaterini Thanou, authorities said on Monday.

Around 1 500 boxes of a "non-approved substance", health remedies containing the banned stimulant ephedrine and around 30 boxes of steroids were discovered, said Dimitris Vagionas, chief of Greece's public pharmaceutical watchdog (EOF).

The raid was carried out on an office rented by Christos Tzekos, the controversial coach of 2000 Olympic 200-metres champion Kenteris and women's 100m silver medallist Thanou.

Both Kenteris and Thanou withdrew from the Olympics last week after failing to turn up for a mandatory drugs test on the eve of the Athens games on August 12.

They claimed to have been injured in a mysterious motorcycle accident hours after skipping the test, which investigators now believe was faked.

The EOF had already fined Tzekos last year for importing prohibited drugs into Greece.