Fani Halkia was recently charged with using performance-enhancing drugs. Possessing them is a crime in Greece. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)Halkia Charged with Doping
Olympic Champion in the women’s 400-meter hurdles, Fani Halkia, was charged with doping offenses by a Greek court on Friday.
Halkia won gold in 2004 and was kicked out of the Beijing Games after she tested positive for methyltrienolone; she denies any wrongdoing. The maximum punishment for her crime is two years in prison.
Her coach, George Panagiotopoulos, was also charged with administering performance-enhancing drugs. Panagiotopoulos faces as much as three years in prison and more than $25,000 in fines.
“There is no evidence that Halkia deliberately took illegal substances or that Panagiotopoulos is a moral instigator,” Giorgos Agiostratitis, the duo’s lawyer, told Reuters. “I think the charges will be overturned during the trial.”
Two other athletes, sprinters Tassos Gousis and Dimitris Regas, were also charged with using banned substances.
Equestrian Olympian Defends his Medal from Doping
Tony Andre Hansen, the Norwegian bronze medalist in the team equestrian event in Beijing, will face a tribunal on Saturday in a bid to keep his medal.
Hansen is accused of injecting capsaicin into his horse Camiro. Capsaicin is used as a pain reliever and can cause horses to jump higher.
Hansen said he would not "dare predict the result."
"I have two foreign experts with me, who can hopefully get me acquitted," Hansen said. "This time, I just hope the evidence is good enough. Tony Andre Hansen riding Camiro at the Beijing Olympics. (DAVID HECKER/AFP/Getty Images)
"The only problem is that we don't know where the substance came from. We still think it could be from pollution. But how Camiro got that pollution in him is impossible to say."
If the International Equestrian Federation panel finds that he didn’t dope, his Norwegian team will keep their medals from the Beijing Olympics. Should the panel rule against Hansen, Switzerland will be given the bronze medal.
Hansen is the sixth rider from the Beijing Olympics to have a positive drug test. His is the last outstanding drug case in the equestrian event.
OCA Strengthens Anti-Doping Program
The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) announced on Wednesday they would increase the moxie of the organization’s anti-doping program.
Mani Jegathesan, chairman of the medical committee of the OCA, spoke to AFP at the Sport for All Congress on Wednesday saying they are still catching drug cheats.
“The fact remains that at any time we are doing (doping) tests, we come up with positive cases,” he said. “We accept now that doping in sports is part of the current sports landscape but we are putting in place the mechanism to contain the problem and eliminate it.”
Jegathesan would not offer specifics, but did say harsher penalties would be a top priority for the OCA. He also said education would be critical in the fight against doping. Alexsey Voyevodin was suspended for two years after failing a drug test. (Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
He also said there were endemic factors that caused athletes to dope.
“The chance to win big money and the rewards are push factors that attract athletics to take drugs. It is the part of a culture to win at any cost.”
…Briefs
…Gold medalist in cross-country mountain biking Sabine Spitz said a doctor offered her performance-enhancing drugs in 2003. She would not name the doctor, and said she refused the drugs because she wanted "to be able to look at myself in the mirror every morning." Spitz added she would "rather ride behind the others" than dope.
…The WADA Executive Committee and Foundation will meet Nov. 22 and 23 in Montreal. The purpose of the meetings is to discuss the first annual “Code Compliance Report.” The WADA Code is designed to harmonize the worldwide fight against doping. Additionally, the foundation will approve WADA’s 2009 budget, and the EC will review social science research projects for approval as part of the Agency’s 2009 Social Science Research Grant Program.
…The IAAF imposed two- year bans on seven Russian athletes on Wednesday. The athletes tested positive for EPO and predominantly came from race walking. The athletes include Vladimir Kanaykin, the 20-km race walk world record holder, and Alexsey Voyevodin, 50-km bronze medalist at the Athens Olympics in 2004. This is the second time in two weeks multiple Russian athletes have been handed suspensions for doping offenses. The Russian Athletics Federation suspended seven athletes for tampering with doping tests last week.
Media Watch
Cycling Weekly has an interview with U.S. anti-doping expert Don Caitlin.
Written by Ed Hula III.
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