Athletics News round-up: Greek prosecutors have delayed announcing their findings into whether the country's top sprinters faked a road accident in a doping scandal that rocked the Athens Olympics, a prosecution source said yesterday.
Chief prosecutor Dimitris Papangelopoulos is expected to decide whether to press charges against the pair and their coach later in the week.
"He is still studying the investigation report and he should have an announcement tomorrow or later this week," the source said.
On Tuesday, headlines rang out with news that attackers had stabbed sports editor Filippos Sirigos, a key witness in the investigation into Olympic champion Costas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou. Police also said gas canisters and a bottle of petrol were sent to the owner of Sirigos's newspaper Eleftherotypia.
Prime minister Costas Karamanlis condemned the attack, echoing warnings by Greek officials during the Athens Olympics in August the scandal could tarnish Greece's image in the world.
Kenteris, winner of the 200 metres gold medal at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, and Thanou, the 100 metres silver medallist in Sydney, fell from grace as the saga unfolded. The sprinters said they had a motorcycle crash hours after missing drug tests on August 12th. They then stayed in hospital for four days.
Media reports suggested Kenteris and Thanou had staged the accident, and there were significant discrepancies between the hospital doctors' initial diagnosis and the report of a medical examiner who checked the athletes during their hospital stay.
Both pulled out of the Games but denied taking banned drugs. Prosecutors have been investigating whether the pair obstructed a drug test and provided authorities with false information regarding the accident.
An outside medical examiner found Kenteris had significantly fewer injuries than stated in the hospital report while Thanou had no single visible injury.
If the sprinters are found guilty, they would face only light sentences because the issues are regarded as misdemeanours punishable by a few months in jail.
Meanwhile, Olympic 400 metres relay gold medallist Alvin Harrison "accepts responsibility" for doping violations that led the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) to ban him for four years and he plans to quit athletics, says his attorney.
"Although Alvin has never tested positive, he decided now was just a good time for him to come forth as he is winding down his career," said Robert Harris.
Harrison won 4x400 relay golds at the 2000 Sydney and 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and also two silvers in the 400 metres. Harris said Harrison (30) is writing a book outlining his involvement in the BALCO doping scandal.
USADA said on Tuesday Harrison had admitted using numerous undetectable performance-enhancing drugs, including anabolic steroids known as "the clear" and "the cream", insulin, erythropoietin (EPO), growth hormone and modafinil.
