Thanou excluded from Beijing Games

1:28pm Sunday 10th August 2008

Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou will not be allowed to compete at the Beijing Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee's executive board on Sunday declared Thanou ineligible to compete and also denied her entry to the Games.

Thanou, 33, had been named in Greece's squad for the women's 100m and her legal team complained to the IOC's ethics commission. Thanou and compatriot Kostas Kenteris missed a drugs test for the third time on the eve of the Athens Games in 2004, which led to a two-year suspension.

Thanou, a 100m silver medalist in Sydney 2000, and fellow sprinter Kenteris claimed they had a motorcycle accident which prevented them from attending the drugs test and landed them in hospital.

Thanou and Kenteris later handed in their accreditation and were provisionally banned in 2004 by athletics' world governing body the IAAF.