The HellenicAthletes.com website reported that Thanou's British-based lawyer, Dr. Gregory Ioannidis of The University of Buckingham’s School of Law, has written to the IOC after they re-opened the disciplinary case against her from the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

 

Thanou served a two-year ban for missing anti-doping tests in the run-up to those Games, part of a major scandal that also involved fellow Greek sprinter Kostas Kenteris on the eve of their home Olympics.

 

In a letter that HellenicAthletes.com has seen, Ioannidis wrote that what happened in 2004 is
"irrelevant as to the issues under discussion, violate basic and well established principles of law, are arbitrary, capricious, biased and discriminatory and give rise to both civil and criminal liability, not only against the IOC as a sporting governing body, but also against certain individuals of the IOC.”

 

Thanou claims that her case has already been dealt with by the International Association of Athletics Federations.

 

The most explosive part of the letter to the IOC, however, is her claim that she was threatened by some of its members to withdraw from the Games and that this was unlawful and could lead to criminal action in Greece.

 

Ioannidis is also demanding in his letter that Thanou be awarded the Olympic gold medal from the 2000 Games in Sydney where she finished in the 100 metres but the winner, American Marion Jones, has subsequently been disqualified after she admitted being on performance-enhancing drugs at the time.

 

To read the full article visit http://www.hellenicathletes.com/news.php?news_id=470.