Kostas Kederis and Ekaterina Thanou could be facing the end of their careers after the International Association of Athletics Federations last night suspended them following a series of missed drugs tests.
Kederis, the 2000 Olympic 200m champion, and Thanou, the Sydney 100m silver medallist, pulled out of the Athens games after failing to show up for out-of-competition doping tests and spending four days in hospital following an alleged motorcycle crash.
Along with their former coach Christos Tzekos, they submitted written explanations to the IAAF, the sport's world governing body, on why they missed the tests at the Olympics along with earlier checks in Tel Aviv and Chicago.
But the IAAF ruled their explanations unacceptable and provisionally suspended them pending hearings by the Greek federation. If found guilty they face bans of up to two years.
The sprint pair could not be found at the Olympic Village for a doping test on the eve of the games. Hours later, they announced that they had suffered cuts and bruises in a motorcycle accident as they rushed back to be tested. They later withdrew from the games amid suggestions that the accident had been faked.
It has led prosecutors in Greece to file eight criminal charges, against the athletes, Tzekos, eyewitnesses of the motorcycle incident and seven hospital doctors.
The withdrawals were a huge embarrassment for Greece and left organisers scrambling to replace Kederis as the final torchbearer in the games' opening ceremony.
"In each case, the IAAF has concluded that the explanation provided is unacceptable," it said in a statement.
