Thanou ruling hit by legal delay

Thanou brandished her accreditation at a news conference on Friday

A decision on Katerina Thanou's eligibility to compete in Beijing has been delayed by the athlete's lawyers.

Thanou, 33, has been named in Greece's squad for the women's 100m.

The decision was due on Thursday, but Thanou's legal team have complained to the International Olympic Committee'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, sparking a two-year suspension.

The 33-year-old, 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.

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

The IOC says it has summoned Thanou regarding charges of "disrepute and prejudice caused to the Olympic Movement" and also over issues regarding an ongoing perjury trial in Greece pertaining to the alleged motorcycle accident.

The Committee, which says it has the right to review any athlete's accreditation, was to make a recommendation on the issue on Thursday 7 August, but will now reconvene on 11 August, according to lawyer Nikos Kollias.

"No decision was taken yesterday so the committee will meet again on Monday," he said.

Kollias confirmed that late on Thursday Thanou's legal team sent a complaint to the IOC's ethics committee, targeting IOC President Jacques Rogge, IOC disciplinary committee chairman Thomas Bach and Greek IOC member Lambis Nikolaou.

Thanou's lawyer, Gregory Ioannidis, argues that the athlete has served her ban and now has the right to compete at the Olympics.

He has threatened to sue the IOC and its chief Jacques Rogge if Thanou is not allowed to compete in Beijing.

Thanou held a news conference in Athens last Friday, in which she brandished her accreditation for the Beijing Games and declared her intention to compete.

It was an ironic echo of 2004, when IOC spokesperson Giselle Davies held aloft the surrendered accreditations of Kenteris and Thanou for photographers.