On 12 August 2004, just hours before the Athens Olympics opening ceremony, Greece’s two biggest athletics stars — Kostas Kenteris and Ekaterini Thanou — became the centre of one of the Games’ most sensational controversies.
The Sydney 2000 medalists, tipped as Greece’s best hopes for gold on home soil, failed to attend a mandatory anti-doping test. The pair claimed they were away from the Olympic Village when notified, and that while rushing back after hearing about the missed test on the news, they were involved in a motorcycle accident. They were later shown on television lying in hospital beds, saying they were being treated for injuries.
Olympic officials doubted the account, and an official Greek investigation later concluded the accident had been staged — a finding both athletes denied. The scandal immediately shook Greece, forcing a last-minute change to the opening ceremony (Kenteris had been due to light the Olympic flame) and casting a shadow over the Games.
National heroes before the fall
Just a few years earlier, both Kenteris and Thanou were household names and symbols of Greek sporting excellence.
Kostas Kenteris, originally a 400m runner, had stunned the world by switching to the 200m and winning gold at the Sydney 2000 Olympics — the first Greek sprinter to do so. He followed it with victories at the 2001 World Championships and 2002 European Championships, becoming an icon of speed and discipline.
Ekaterini Thanou was equally admired, a fierce competitor over 100m with multiple European titles and an Olympic silver from Sydney. Her success in a sport long dominated by Americans and Jamaicans made her a national pride.
In the years leading up to Athens 2004, they were not just athletes — they were Greece’s favourite role models, carrying the expectations of a nation eager to showcase its modern sporting prowess.
Shock, disappointment, and growing cynicism
When the missed test and motorcycle story broke, disbelief quickly gave way to anger. Many fans felt betrayed; others clung to hope that their heroes were telling the truth. The scandal became a national obsession, discussed in cafés, on television, and in Parliament.
For a country hosting its first Olympics in over a century, the timing could not have been worse. Trust in official sport institutions — both Greek and international — took a hit. The IOC’s handling of the affair, coupled with the later decision to bar Thanou from the 2008 Games even after serving her suspension, fed a growing perception that sporting authorities acted inconsistently, or even politically.
The fact that other athletes with confirmed doping violations — such as Hungarian discus thrower Róbert Fazekas — were later allowed to compete again only deepened the sense of unfairness. For many Greeks, this episode marked the moment when their faith in the purity of international sport began to erode.
A long legal battle and an uncertain legacy
On 18 August 2004, before the IOC’s Disciplinary Commission, Kenteris and Thanou withdrew from the Games “to avoid escalation of the issue.” The IAAF later suspended both for two years for missing three doping tests in total, though neither was ever charged with a doping violation.
The legal case dragged on for years. In 2011, a Greek prosecutor urged the court to convict them of making false statements, saying there was “no evidence that there was an accident.” Initially, both were found guilty of perjury and handed suspended jail sentences. However, in September 2011, after seven years of legal wrangling, the Greek appeals court acquitted both athletes of faking the crash, citing insufficient evidence. Their coach, Christos Tzekos, was convicted of possession of banned substances but cleared of perjury.
A scandal remembered
The Kenteris–Thanou affair remains one of the most dramatic scandals in Olympic history — a saga of glory, suspicion, legal twists, and public disillusionment. For some, they will always be remembered as champions wronged by politics; for others, as athletes who failed their country at its proudest sporting moment. Either way, 12 August 2004 stands as the day when two national heroes fell from grace, and the Greek public’s trust in the ideals of sport took a lasting blow.
Also read: ON THIS DAY: Remembering Domnitsa Lanitou-Kavounidou (2011)
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