In 2025, we’re looking back at some of the big stories from the Sydney 2000 Olympics and Paralympics. As part of Jill’s February story on Marion Jones, she mentioned Greek runners Kostantinos Kenteris (Kostas) and Katerina Thanou (Ekaterini). Their story is worth a longer look.
Greek runners shock the world
At the Sydney 2000 Olympics, Kenteris shocked the world of track and field by winning gold in the 200m. He defeated pre-race favorites like Ato Bolden and Obadele Thompson (another character in the Marion Jones story). The following year, Kenteris proved he was no one-trick pony by winning the 200m at the World Championships. Heading into the Athens 2004 Olympics, he was the greatest hope for the host nation on the track. It was widely thought that he would be the final torchbearer and light the Olympic cauldron.
He was not, however, the only hometown hero. Katerina Thanou won silver behind Marion Jones in the 100m in Sydney. She medaled at the World Championships in 2001 and 2003. Thanou’s popularity cannot be overstated; she was the Greek Female Athlete of the Year in 2001, 2002, and 2003.
Whereabouts trouble
Thanou and Kenteris trained together under the guidance of controversial coach Christos Tzekos who had been linked to a doping scandal at football club AEK Athens.
In the weeks leading up to the Athens Games, the IOC had taken over testing of athletes for performance enhancing drugs. Whispers circulated of pressure on Greek athletes to succeed at a home games through any means possible. Tzekos’ reputation put his athletes in the IOC’s crosshairs, and testers attempted to reach Thanou and Kenteris several times.
The Greek runners proved elusive in the months before the 2004 Olympics. Both had avoided lucrative races in Europe where officials enforced strict testing protocols. When testing officials tried to find Thanou and Kenteris in Athens, the Greeks quickly left for Chicago. The IOC sent testers to Chicago, only to find Thanou and Kenteris had relocated to Essen, Germany. Greek officials claimed to be unaware of the athletes’ whereabouts.
The motorcycle crash that rocked Greece
On August 11, 2004, Thanou and Kenteris checked into the Athletes’ Village in Athens. The IOC immediately sent testers to the Village, only to find the two track stars were missing again, supposedly on their way home to pick up some forgotten items.
IOC President Jacques Rogge and IOC officials were furious; Hellenic Olympic Committee officials were confused; the two groups met in an emergency meeting. Avoiding official drug tests could not go unpunished but no one wanted to embarrass the host nation and its biggest stars. Then, Greek television announced that Thanou and Kenteris had been admitted to the hospital after being involved in a motorcycle crash.
At first, the Greek public was devastated that their athletic heroes were injured on the eve of the Olympics, but questions rose almost immediately. Why were they riding a motorcycle right before competition? Why did they go to a hospital so far away? Why had they missed so many drug tests? Public opinion turned sharply against the two and they were forced to withdraw from Olympic competition.
World Anti-Doping Agency chief and IOC Vice-President Dick Pound was having none of it. “There is a very serious problem. And it is a sleazy thing,” he said.
Disgrace despite acquittal
After a lengthy investigation and many delays, Katerina Thanou and Kostas Kenteris were charged with faking the accident and their injuries to avoid drug testing. In May 2011, the two were convicted in a Greek court of perjury related to the incident. Both maintained their innocence. In September that year, in another bizarre turn of events, an appeals court cleared the athletes of the charges. Even the IAAF (now known as World Athletics) was surprised to learn of this development.
Despite this, the reputations of both athletes were forever tainted and their athletic careers were over. Kenteris never raced again after 2004 and Thanou did not run in a major competition.
Neither apologized.
Neither ever tested positive for performance enhancing drugs.
But are you really?
When the IOC stripped Marion Jones of her title in the 100m in Sydney, they chose not to upgrade Thanou from silver to gold, leaving the gold medal empty. On her Instagram biography, Katerina Thanou declares herself, “Olympic Champion 100m Sydney 2000.”
–Alison Brown