Olympics: Disgraced Greek sprinters Costas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou have been charged with obstructing a dope test on the eve of August's Athens Olympics and faking a motorcycle accident.

The charges against the Olympic medallists, their coach and doctors who treated them after the alleged crash end a three-month investigation into the incidents that cast a shadow over the Games just hours before the opening ceremony.

Prosecutors Spyros Mouzakitis and Athina Theodoropoulou said the athletes had repeatedly obstructed doping officials after they failed to appear at scheduled tests in Chicago and Tel Aviv shortly before the Games, and then again in Athens on August 12th.

Kenteris (31), who was chosen as the ceremony's final torchbearer before being replaced after the crash, and Thanou (29) are unlikely to be jailed if found guilty, a judicial source said.

Kenteris was a shock winner of the 200 metres gold in Sydney four years ago and Thanou won the women's 100 metres silver.

Prosecutors also charged the athletes' former coach, Christos Tzekos, with obstructing tests and owning, storing and trading banned substances found at his nutrition supplements company.

A witness to the midnight crash of a motorcycle Kenteris said he was driving with Thanou as his passenger has been charged with perjury.

"They have now been officially charged and if found guilty they could face fines or short jail sentences which can either be paid off or suspended," a judicial source said.

"They are unlikely to spend any time behind bars for these misdemeanours they are charged with."

Some doctors face charges of writing up false medical reports.

Kenteris and Thanou have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and suggested they were victims of a set-up.

"I had never been notified of the test and suddenly people were saying I could be thrown out of the Games," Kenteris said last month in his only interview since the Games. "The accident did occur."

He has since parted company with Tzekos.

Kenteris and Thanou had holed up in an Athens hospital for four days saying they were too ill to help Olympic officials with their inquiries. The injuries were officially blamed for their subsequent decision to scratch from their events.

The IAAF is examining possible action against the pair and is expected to announce its decision later this month. Missing a drugs test can attract a ban of up to two years.

Triple world junior cycling champion Shane Perkins has been suspended for six months for using a banned substance, Cycling Australia (CA) said yesterday.

The 18-year-old appeared in the Australian Court of Arbitration for Sport last week.

The court heard Perkins had inadvertently used a stimulant at the junior world championships in Los Angeles in July, CA said in a statement.

"In America, Perkins purchased a nasal inhaler of the same brand he regularly uses in Australia without realising it contained a different active ingredient, methamphetamine, which is on the banned list," CA said.

"Perkins tested positive to the substance after his gold medal ride in the keirin, a medal which is now expected to be taken from him. However, in a subsequent test two days later his result was negative."

The teenager, who won gold in the sprint, keirin and team sprint at the junior world championships, began his suspension on Tuesday.