Athens - A top Greek team official has revealed that controversial sprint stars Kostadinos Kenteris and Ekaterini Thanou panicked when told they would have to take a doping test on the eve of the Olympics.
Reigning Olympic 200m champion Kenteris and women's 100m silver medallist Thanou are widely expected to be thrown out of the Athens Games by the International Olympic Committee on Monday for failing to take the mandatory test.
The Greek team's deputy chief Manolis Kolybadis said the pair took fright and left the Olympic athletes' village on Thursday without informing officials where they were going.
"They were like scared pigeons... they were very frightened," Kolybadis told Greek TV station Alpha in an interview also published in sports daily Sportime on Sunday.
Kolybadis had met the two athletes and their coach Christos Tzekos at the entrance to the athletes' village, about two hours before IOC officials came looking for them to take an unannounced doping test.
"I told them that they would be asked to take a test, at some point, from the time they entered the village," Kolybadis said.
"Thanou was shaking all over, and when I asked her 'Why are you shaking?,' she asked me 'why are they chasing us, what do they want from us?'
"When they (the IOC) told us they should take a test, we searched for them and didn't find them in their rooms. They left, but we didn't know when," Kolybadis said.
Accident
Around six hours after missing the tests, Kenteris and Thanou were admitted to an Athens hospital for treatment to minor injuries following a mysterious motorcycle accident.
The athletes say they borrowed their coach's motorcycle to get back to the athletes' village as soon as possible once they realised they had mistakenly missed the test.
The Greek Olympic Committee (HOC) announced on Saturday it was withdrawing the pair and their coach from the team for the Games, pending the outcome of an IOC doping inquiry which will hear the athletes' version of events on Monday.
Kenteris and Thanou are unlikely to be present at the hearing and will be represented by their coach and their lawyer Michalis Dimitrakopoulos, Greek TV station Mega reported.
An HOC spokesperson, Yiorgos Gakis, told AFP that Kolybadis did not specifically warn the two athletes of a specific test, but had explained to them that they should be immediately contactable.
Not 'caught doped'
The athletes' lawyer denied any accusation of doping and said the athletes had not refused to take the test - they had simply not been officially informed they were to take one.
"They were not caught doped... there is no document bearing their signature saying they knew that they had to undergo a test.
"If there is no refusal (to take a test), there is no disciplinary breach," Dimitrakopoulos said.
The shaming of Kenteris and Thanou has been an embarrassing episode for the host nation.
HOC president Lambis Nikolaou made no secret of the fact that he had wanted to bring the affair to a close on Saturday.
"My view was that we should have revoked their accreditation immediately and not wait for the IOC decision," Nikolaou said.
Nikolaou sits on the IOC Executive Board, which will ultimately decide the duo's fate.
Suspicions
It is a far cry from the glorious return that awaited Kenteris and Thanou four years ago after the Sydney Olympics where Kenteris came from nowhere to become Greece's first male athletics champion since 1912 and Thanou won silver behind Marion Jones in the 100m.
Suspicions of the duo have increased as a result of their rare public appearances while various official bodies have been left frustrated by their failure to pinpoint the athletes' whereabouts when required.
The mystery surrounding them has only deepened with the extraordinary events of recent days. - Sapa-AFP
