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Greek hurdler Fani Halkia says doping was 'malicious act'
Disgraced Greek hurdler Fani Halkia blamed a "malicious act" by unspecified people for a failed doping test that cost her participation in the Beijing Olympics.
The 29-year-old Halkia insisted Tuesday that she never intentionally used banned performance-enhancing drugs. "The action attributed to me is a malicious act by third parties that I was unaware of," Halkia said in written testimony to Athens prosecutor Costas Simitzoglou.
Her coach, Giorgos Panagiotopoulos, echoed that claim.
The 2004 Olympic 400-metre hurdles gold medallist was expelled from the Beijing Games after testing positive for the steroid methyltrienolone during an Aug. 10 out-of-competition test in Japan. She was the 15th Greek athlete caught this year for using the steroid.
"I never knowingly took a banned substance, and I never knowingly used methyltrienolone at the Olympics," Halkia said in her testimony, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press.
She said her participation at the Games had been unlikely, due to injury.
Simitzoglou is investigating whether the runner, her coach and sprinter Tassos Gousis broke Greek law by taking banned substances. Panagiotopoulos and Gousis both deny any wrongdoing.
In an unusual move, the International Olympic Committee has filed a lawsuit against Panagiotopoulos, requesting his prosecution in Greece. But Halkia insisted in her testimony that her coach "neither gave me (drugs) nor ever discussed that option with me."
Panagiotopoulos also protested his innocence in written testimony to the prosecutor, and claimed somebody spiked the legal supplements Halkia used.
"I can guess at (their) aims, but will not expand on that right now," he said, but did not elaborate.
Halkia said she underwent 17 doping tests in the three months before the Beijing Games, adding: "This happened to no other athlete on the planet."
She also lashed out at the IOC, which she said "has no relation whatsoever with the Olympic ideals."
Last week, IOC medical director Patrick Schamasch gave evidence to Simitzoglou, while the head of Greece's national Olympic committee has also testified.
The 15 athletes who tested positive for methyltrienolone include 11 members of the Greek weightlifting team, who have been charged with illegal use of toxic substances - a misdemeanour - another runner and a swimmer.
Greek Olympic and sporting officials say the spate of drug violations appeared to be part of an organized effort.
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