A Greek court decided on Wednesday to postpone the perjury trial of disgraced Olympic sprinters Kostas Kenderis and Katerina Thanou again for the seventh time, reports said.
The athletes appeared in court but the trial was delayed until January 21 by a panel of judges following the absense of several witnesses and a lawyer.
At the 2004 Games in Athens, Kenderis and Thanou caused the biggest Olympic doping scandal since Ben Johnson was stripped of his 100-metre gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Games following a positive drugs test.
The two sprinters were accused of missing a doping test and staging a motorcycle accident to avoid being tested on the night of the 2004 opening ceremony.
Kenderis, who won a gold medal in the 200 metres at the Sydney 2000 Olympics and Thanou, a silver Olympic medallist in the 100 metres, were Greece’s biggest medal hopes for the Athens Games.
They both face misdemeanor charges of perjury over the motorcycle accident, along with 10 other people including their coach, doctors and alleged witnesses of the accident. If found guilty they face a penalty of up to two years in prison.
While Kenderis did not specifically mention his coach Christos Tzekos (photo), who faces separate charges for providing authorities with false information on the motorcycle accident, he did admit to trusting the wrong people.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
