Greek sprinter is first positive drug test of Beijing Olympics

Greek sprinter is first positive drug test of Beijing Olympics




Greek sprinter Tassos Gousis last night earned the least-wanted Olympic title of the Beijing Games, when he became the first athlete to be announced as having failed a drugs test.

Greek TV reports stated that the 29-year-old, who was due to compete in the 200 metres, tested positive during tests conducted by the Greek anti-doping agency before the team left for training in Japan.


Gousis, who placed eighth in the 200m final at last year's world championships in Osaka, is a member of the same Greek training group as Katerina Thanou and Kostas Kenteris, the sprinters who were both found guilty of evading drug testers on the eve of the Athens Games four years ago.

Several Greek athletes, including 11 weightlifters, a boxer and a swimmer, have tested positve for banned substances in the past few months following tougher controls imposed by the Greek Olympic Committee ahead of the Games. Greek reports did not specify the substance that Gousis had tested positive for.


Thanou, 33, the 100m silver medallist at the 2000 Olympics, was subsequently promoted to the gold medal position after the disqualification last year of the American, Marion Jones. But she is awaiting the outcome of an appeal to the International Olympic Commitee to allow her to race in Beijing.

The IOC is threatening to deny Thanou accreditation to the Olympics.

Thanou was banned for two years after the incident at the Athens Olympics, but she has been named in the Greek squad for these Games. A decision on Thanou's appeal is now due on August 11.

Thanou has been summoned by the IOC relating to charges of 'disrepute and prejudice caused to the Olympic Movement'. She is also facing an on-going perjury trial in Greece over issues related to 2004, when she and Kenteris claimed that they had missed the drug test because of a motorcycle accident.