The Greek athlete expected to light the Olympic flame on Friday was at the centre of a doping scandal on Thursday night. Kostas Kederis, the 200m Olympic champion, is reported not to have shown up for an out-of-competition test and faces the humiliation of being banned.
Kederis and training partner Katerina Thanou, the 100m silver medallist, checked into the athletes’ village in Athens on Thursday and then both failed to appear for a scheduled test requested by the International Olympic Committee.
But late on Thursday night both were reported to have been injured in a motorcycle accident and detained in hospital.
Greek Olympic team spokesperson George Gakis told Reuters the crash happened near Glyfada, the Athens suburb where the Greek team has its training headquarters.
Jacques Rogge, president of the IOC, had summoned both athletes to appear before a disciplinary hearing today to explain why they missed the test.
Under international rules, such failure to show up is as serious as a positive test for banned performance enhancing drugs, and is punishable by a two-year suspension.
Kederis (31) arrived at the village amid speculation that he would be given the honour of lighting the Olympic flame. He would have been the obvious choice; Kederis is the face of the games for many Greeks, his image adorns countless billboards, he was recently voted the most popular man in Greece, and he had been favourite to once again win the 200m gold medal.
A statement from the Hellenic Olympic Committee said: ”The IOC doping control representative came to the office of the chef de mission, Mr John Papadogiannakis and stated that he was looking for the athletes Kostas Kederis and Katerina Thanou in order to proceed to sample collections, but he did not find the athletes in their rooms. Consequently, he handed over two doping control notifications … Yiannis Stamatopoulos, [head of the Greek track team], explained that the athletes left the village, in order to collect personal belongings.” – Guardian Unlimited