Thanou threatens to take the IOC to court over Jones gold.
December 16th 2007 02:34
At the games Thanou finished second to Marion Jones who this week formally had her medals taken away from her and her records expunged.
Thanou “believes she has to be awarded the gold”, her lawyer Gregory Ionnidis told the BBC, “If not, we would have to consider if legal action needs to be taken.”
In 2004 Thanou missed three drugs tests in the run up to the Athens Olympics and after a lengthy appeal she and her compatriot Kostos Kenteris agreed to a two year ban from the date of the last test.
Since the two athletes were suspended from August 2004 until November 2006 when they agreed to take the ban – Thanou was able to re-enter elite level competition straight away.
Kenteris instead opted to retire.
Fast forward to December 2007 and the IOC stated that they were unwilling to redistribute the medals collected from Marion Jones until after the full story of the BALCO doping case was heard.
The idea being that the IOC makes sure it does not award a medal to an athlete that is subsequently found to have used performance enhancing drugs themselves.
Ionnidis states categorically that there is no evidence tying his client to the BALCO case therefore there is no logical reason to have the gold medal given to anybody else.
"If they don't (give Thanou the gold medal), they will obviously have to explain to us why they are not doing so," he said.
"Once we know the reasons behind the decision, then we will obviously consider a course of action.
"We are carefully monitoring the situation. We have to consider the evidence at the appropriate time. We do hope Katerina Thanou will be treated in a fair and equal way.”
However in all this Mr. Ionnidis is missing out several key facts that paint Thanou in just as harsh light as that now shining on Marion Jones’s career.
In addition to missing those three tests and being suspended by the IAAF, shortly after the games Greek authorities seized a large amount of steroids from her then coach who was convicted of distributing banned substances that enhance performance and sent to prison.
On top of that she is still facing criminal charges of perjury and falsifying evidence after her and Kenteris claimed they had been injured in a motorcycle crash on the eve of the Games which they say resulted in them missing their third test.
Last month Olympics chief Jacques Rogge was quoted as saying that athletes had to be "clean" in order for them to receive an upgrade and as long as there is a doubt over Thanou’s drugs record there is a strong possibility that she will be overlooked for the Olympic title.
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