Fani Halkia raises questions

Fani Halkia of Greece cleared ten flights of barriers on the way to victory in the Olympic final of the 400 metres hurdles and spent the rest of the day hurdling questions about her spectacular show.

Fani Halkia of Greece cleared ten flights of barriers on the way to victory in the Olympic final of the 400 metres hurdles and spent the rest of Wednesday hurdling questions about her spectacular improvement.

HT Image

Halkia was little known before these Games but showed in her first round race in the Olympic Stadium that she was spectacularly strong.

When the 25-year-old smashed the Olympic record that had stood since 1996 with a time of 52.77 seconds in her semifinal on Sunday, it sent shockwaves through the world of athletics.

In the final, Halkia ran down the world record holder Yuliya Pechonkina, the world champion Jana Pittman and two-time European champion Ionela Tirlea-Manolache to storm home five metres clear in 52.82sec.

Halkia's victory had the majority of the 70,000 home crowd on their feet, roaring her to Greece's first track title of these Games although the host nation did win the women's 20km walk.

It is possible for athletes to make rapid progress without recourse to drugs, but the saga involving Greece's 200m champion from the Sydney Games, Kostadinos Kenteris, and the women's 100m silver medallist from those Olympics, Ekaterini Thanou, has intensified the scrutiny of Greek athletes.

Kenteris and Thanou withdrew from the Athens Games after missing a drugs test, about which they claim they were not properly informed.

Hours after the missed test, the pair were involved in a motorbike accident which an initial investigation by Greek prosecutors has found to be highly suspicious.

Neither Kenteris nor Thanou have ever tested positive for a banned substance and both deny they have ever used performance-enhancing drugs.