BEIJING // The Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou has brought the Olympic movement into disrepute and cannot compete in the Beijing Games, a spokeswoman for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has confirmed. Thanou was involved in a drugs scandal with fellow Greek sprinter Costas Kenteris before the Athens Games in 2004. She qualified for Beijing but needed IOC approval to compete. "Upon receiving the recommendations of the IOC's disciplinary commission, the executive board has declared Miss Thanou ineligible to participate in the 2008 Beijing Olympic games," the IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davis said.
She said the decision was meant "to send a firm signal of the IOC's moral consideration that this case has brought the Olympic movement very much into disrepute". Thanou was banned until December 2006 and has only raced a handful of times since then but met the Beijing qualifying time and won inclusion in Greece's Olympic team. The IOC, angered that the 2004 doping scandal had overshadowed the start of the Athens Games, decided to review the Greek decision. Thanou has warned she would take legal action if the IOC barred her from competing in Beijing.
*Reuters