IOC bans Greece's Thanou from Beijing Games

By Karolos Grohmann

BEIJING (Reuters) - Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou has been barred from competing in the Beijing Games because of her involvement in a doping scandal four years ago, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Sunday.

Thanou and fellow Greek sprinter Costas Kenteris were at the heart of the biggest Olympic doping affair in years when they missed a drugs test just before the Athens 2004 Games. The case brought the Olympic movement into disrepute, the IOC said.

Returning from a ban, Thanou qualified for Beijing but needed IOC approval to compete.

"Upon receiving the recommendations of the IOC's disciplinary commission, the executive board has declared Miss Thanou ineligible to participate in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games," IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies told reporters.

She said the decision was meant "to send a firm signal of the IOC's moral consideration that this case has brought the Olympic movement very much into disrepute".

Thanou said the decision to ban her was taken long ago.

"This was the last act of a pre-arranged decision, a planned effort to stop me from competing and winning a medal for my country," the 33-year-old said in a statement.

"This is an illegal decision that goes against any concept of equality, equity and legality in the civilized world.

"It is these totalitarian practices and decisions that bring the sporting spirit and the Olympic ideal that my country gave birth to into disrepute."

Greece's Olympic Committee said it had no choice but to accept the IOC's decision.

"This is an IOC ruling, based on its Olympic charter," Committee President Minos Kyriakou told Reuters. "We just have to accept it and that's it."

He said the Greek team had not been affected by it.

LEGAL ACTION THREAT

Thanou and Kenteris were banned until December 2006 for violating anti-doping rules after missing the drugs test inside the athletes' village on the eve of the Athens Games.

Thanou, who won the 100m silver medal at the Sydney 2000 Games, has raced only a few times since then but met the Beijing qualifying time and won inclusion in Greece's Olympic team.