Still denying that she took performance-enhancing drugs, Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou agreed with fellow sprinter Costas Kenteris that they were really hurt in a motorcycle accident on August 12, were kept in a hospital for five days and were unable to undergo drug tests.
During an eight-hour interview Tuesday before prosecutors, Thanou reportedly said, “I came to testify on the events as I experienced them. I thank (the Greek people for their love) and I hope that at some point when all this is over I shall manage to repay them by running competitively again”.
Thanou is reported to have told prosecutors that neither she nor Kenteris were told that the inspectors were looking for them, that they had visited the Olympic Village earlier that day to get their accreditation for the Games and left around 4:40 p.m. with their coach.
But earlier in the day Dimitris Diathessopoulos, head of the Greek Swimming Federation, told prosecutors that the sprinters and their coach left the Olympic Village an hour later than they had claimed.
Diathessopoulos reportedly said he saw them exiting the village by a side entrance, and told the prosecutors that another two sports officials were with him at the time and could back up his testimony.
If the athletes did leave the village some time around 5:30 p.m. their claim not to have been told about the test requirement could appear much weaker, reports Kathimerini.
