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A Greek embarrassment

AFP, Athens
Controversial Greek sprinter and drug suspect Kostadinos Kenteris quit the Olympic Games on Wednesday with his dramatic
gesture overshadowing the eagerly-anticipated pool duel between swimming greats Ian Thorpe and Pieter van den Hoogenband.
Kenteris, the reigning 200m champion and training partner Ekaterini Thanou, the 100m silver medalist from Sydney, both walked out on their Olympic dream just moments after emerging from an International
Olympic Committee (IOC) inquiry which could have expelled them for missing a mandatory drugs test.
However, the IOC said it would take no action against the runners as both had already pulled out of the tournament.
"The IOC's sanction of expulsion from the Games becomes a moot point," said the spokeswoman.
Both athletes had been under suspicion since last Thursday when they missed a scheduled drugs test and then were involved in a bizarre motorcycle accident which left them hospitalised for five days.
Kenteris insisted he was innocent of any wrongdoing but said he was walking
out on the Olympics in the interests of Greece.
"I categorically declare that I was never informed or told to present myself for a doping control in the Olympic village," said the 31-year-old.
"In the interests of the country I am withdrawing from the Games."
Thanou then followed Kenteris' lead.
"I apologise to the Greek people for not being able to participate in the Games. It's very difficult to withdraw from the Olympics, especially if they take place in one's own home country," Thanou told reporters.
FROM PAGE 13
On the busiest day of the Games so far, where 21 golds were to be decided, Greece was transfixed by the fate awaiting the two runners.
Games organisers will be looking to Thorpe and world record holder Van den Hoogenband to put on a classic confrontation in the 100m freestyle final with the Australian seeking to pull off an unprecedented 100m, 200m and 400m Olympic treble.
One thing is for sure -- there will no
American winner with the US team failing to qualify a man fore the finals of the blue riband event for the first time in history.
Also in the pool, Japan's Kosuke Kitajima is one of the favourites for the men's 200m breaststroke while America's Kaitlin Sandeno is a tip for the women's 200m butterfly title.
After a poor start, the Americans are now second in the medals table with six golds behind China's ten and will be
looking to add to their collection in the historic setting of Olympia where the Games were first held 1,619 years ago.
The first two golds of the day went to Slovakia's Elena Kaliska and France's Tony Estanguet on the opening day of the Canoe-Kayak competition at the man-made Schinias site north of Athens.
Kimberly Rhode of the United States then won gold medal in the women's double trap shooting event before cyclist Leontien Zijlaard-Van Moorsel of the Netherlands clinched victory in the women's individual time-trial to add to her three golds from Sydney.
In an inspired piece of marketing, the men's and women's shot put competition has been shifted from the spanking new Olympic Stadium in the centre of Athens to Olympia in the south.
Germany's 1996 Olympic gold medalist, and three times world champion Astrid Kumbernuss, was probably wishing it had not switched as she failed to make it out of the qualifying round.
Later Wednesday, Australia's Michael Rogers will be hoping to make the most of David Millar's absence from the men's time trial.
The Briton was hit with a two-year ban for taking the banned performance enhancer EPO.
Rogers' main rivals will be defending Olympic champion Viatcheslav Ekimov of Russia, Sydney Olympic runner-up Jan Ullrich of Germany, Spaniard Jose Ivan Gutierrez and American Tyler Hamilton.
The remaining quarterfinal places in the men's football tournament will also be decided with Japan playing Ghana, Costa Rica meeting Portugal, Italy facing Paraguay while Iraq, already assured of qualification, taking on Morocco.