Greeks ashamed after banned athlete carries flame

The Greek Olympic Committee has admitted an error in selecting a suspended athlete to run in the torch relay for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics

ATHENS, October 30, 2009 (AFP) - The Greek Olympic Committee has admitted an error in selecting an athlete who is currently serving a doping suspension to run in the torch relay for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.

Fani Halkia, Greece's former 400m hurdles Olympic champion, is serving a two-year ban over a doping violation during the Beijing 2008 Olympics but was one of many runners to carry the flame during the Greek leg of the relay.

The Greek Olympic Committee torch relay supervisor, Spyros Zannias, admitted the blunder shortly after a ceremony in Athens Thursday to hand the Olympic flame to Vancouver organisers after the week-long relay leg in Greece.

Zannias admitted the relay committee was "wrong" to include Halkia following a proposal from the association of Greek Olympic winners, on whose board the athlete sits.

He gave no indication whether any form of sanction would follow, but said: "The standard position of the Greek Olympic Committee is that athletes serving suspension have no right to participate in athletic activities and events."

A gold medalist in the Athens 2004 Olympics, Halkia was formally expelled during the Beijing Games after testing positive for the banned steroid Methyltrienolone.

Halkia claimed she was sabotaged. A trial on the issue is ongoing after a scheduled hearing was postponed in June.

The same drug had previously been found in the samples of over a dozen Greek athletes in other disciplines, severely embarrassing Greek authorities in the run-up to Beijing 2008