Kostas Kederis and Ekaterina Thanou, the Greek sprinters accused of evading drug tests on the eve of the Athens Olympics, are to be suspended by the International Association of Athletics Federations next week.

The world body's anti-doping commission discussed the cases during a telephone conference call on Wednesday and will recommend the pair be officially charged. They will then be suspended from competing until they appear before a hearing of the Greek athletics federation.

It is alleged that Kederis, the Olympic 200 metres champion in 2000, and Thanou, the Sydney 100m silver medallist, failed to appear for scheduled tests in Chicago and Tel Aviv shortly before the games and then again at the Olympic village in Athens on August 12. If found guilty they may be banned for up to two years.

They already face being sent to prison as they were charged, in Greece last week, with avoiding drug tests and faking a motorcycle accident.

The scandal overshadowed the return of the Olympics to Greece as Kederis had been due to light the flame.

They then claimed they were injured in a motorcycle crash and they spent four days in hospital. Kederis and Thanou eventually pulled out rather than wait to be expelled.

The IAAF is also set to investigate the case of the disgraced Olympic discus champion Robert Fazekas, after the Hungarian federation banned him for only a year. Fazekas was stripped of the gold he won in Athens in August for tampering with his sample. The IAAF originally banned Fazekas and the Olympic hammer champion Adrian Annus, also stripped of gold for doping, for two years.

Both Hungarians appealed, with Fazekas, at 29, announcing his retirement on Tuesday. He then reversed that decision after the ban was reduced to 12 months.

Annus's two-year ban was also halved on Thursday. Both athletes are due to attend hearings at the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport in February when they hope to get the gold medals returned.

Paula Radcliffe, meanwhile, faces the unusual prospect of finishing behind thousands of other competitors when she contests the RunLondon 10km race tomorrow.

She has not recovered fully from winning the New York Marathon this month and is planning to jog the course and give some fun-runners the experience of being paced by the marathon world-record holder.

The Bedford runner, winner of the event for the past two years, when it was staged in Richmond Park, will join 30,000 other runners for the race's new start in Surrey Quays at 7pm.

Source: Guardian Unlimited

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