China Olympics - Katerina Thanou banned from Olympics after drugs scandal???

Ekaterini Thanou

On her return to international competition at the European Indoor Athletics Championships in Birmingham, England, she was booed by the crowds before finishing 6th in the final.

Following the revelations about Marion Jones's use of steroids, Thanou, who finished 2nd behind Jones in the 100m at Sydney 2000, is in line to be awarded the American's gold medal. Due to Thanou's own tainted record the IOC have been reviewing their legal options to punish Jones without rewarding Thanou. Certain circles have applauded this approach while others have been harshly critical.

Thanou was provisionally selected by the Hellenic Olympic Committee to compete at the 2008 Olympics in Bejing. However, as she had not achieved the Olympic 'A' standard (11.32 seconds), if another Greek woman had achieved this, she would have been forced off of the team.

However, all of this became moot on August 09, 2008, when the executive board of the IOC decided to bar Thanou from competing under rule 23.2.1 of the Olympic charter. This rule allows the banning of athletes who are thought to be guilty of improper conduct or bringing the games into disrepute.

China Olympics - Katerina Thanou banned from Olympics after drugs scandal???

Katerina Thanou will not compete in Beijing after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) refused the Greek sprinter entry to the athletics competition for bringing the Olympic Games into disrepute.

The IOC’s executive board today ruled her ineligible to compete after the “scandalous saga” that overshadowed the start of the previous Games in 2004. Thanou and compatriot Kostas Kenteris missed a drugs test of the eve of the Athens Games after claiming to have been involved in a motorcycle accident.

It was the third time both athletes had missed a test, resulting in an automatic two-year ban by the IAAF.

The decision to deny Thanou accreditation was taken on the recommendation of the IOC’s disciplinary commission. This allows temporary ineligibility as a sanction. But the IOC went a step further by invoking another rule in its Olympic Charter that gives it the power to refuse any athlete at its discretion.

The IOC said the move to use this power signalled the strength of its feeling against Thanou’s behaviour that was of “very serious prejudice to the Olympic Movement” and raise “significant moral considerations”.

The decision may lead to a messy legal battle. Thanou, who qualified for the Beijing Games, had threatened to sue Jacques Rogge, the IOC president, if she was denied permission to participate.

She is also demanding that she be awarded Marion Jones’ gold medal after the American was stripped of her Olympic title for drug use. Thanou finished second behind her in Sydney 2000.

China Olympics - Katerina Thanou banned from Olympics after drugs scandal???