Sport 13-08-2004 Greek Olympians In Drug Scandal who: Sprinter Costas Kenteris what: May be banned from Games for missing drugs test where: Athens, Greece when: Yesterday snippet: "Greece`s top sprinter Costas Kenteris was at the centre of a Rio Ferdinand-style drugs row last night," says The Sun. "The 200 metres champion from Sydney four years ago, who beat Darren Campbell into silver, is considered to be the hosts` best hope of winning a track gold." Last night it emerged that he and his training partner, Olympic 100m silver medallist Katerina Thanou, had been hospitalised following a motorcycle accident shortly after failing to report for a drugs test - they now face being banned from the Olympics and a possible two-year suspension. "Kenteris and Thanou missed the tests after being given permission by the Greek Olympic committee to leave the Olympic Village to collect belongings from their homes," says The Evening Standard`s website, thisislondon.com. "Having missed it, they apparently asked to take a test later in the evening at the clinic in the Olympic Village rather than at the anti-doping laboratory in Athens." "Both athletes are national heroes in Greece after their exploits at the Sydney Olympics four years ago," says the BBC. Kederis, 31, the only man to win the Olympic, world and European 200m titles, "is a hugely famous figure and had been tipped to light the Olympic cauldron during Friday`s opening ceremony." [... more]

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