ATHENS, Greece (Ticker) - Hospitalized Greek sprinters Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou were suspended Saturday by the Hellenic Olympic Committee.
The temporary bans of the 2000 Olympic medalists are pending their hearing Monday before the IOC, which will determine whether their missed drug tests Thursday constitute a failed test that could result in a two-year ban from all competition.
Kenteris and Thanou are hospitalized as the result of a motorcycle accident early Friday morning, hours after both missed random drug tests. Neither is scheduled to be released before Sunday.
An emergency meeting of the executive board of the HOC concluded that Kenteris and Thanou should be suspended by a 5-1 majority verdict. The decision came less than 24 hours after the opening ceremonies.
"In wishing to keep the peaceful climate within the Olympic delegation, having unshakeable faith in 'clean Games' and always appreciating the contribution of the two champions, the HOC has decided to withdraw the two athletes from the Olympic team and their coach (Christos Tzekos) until a decision is made by the IOC," said a statement from the committee.
However, furious HOC president Lambis Nikolaou had much harsher words after emerging from the four-hour meeting.
"The final decision wasn't a unanimous one," he said tersely. "I don't think they should have been suspended - I think they should have been thrown out altogether."
A statement from KAT Hospital on Friday said Kenteris suffered "cranial trauma, whiplash and open wounds to the lower leg" and Thanou suffered "abdominal bruises, injuries to the right hip and a muscular injury to her right upper leg."
In a news conference Friday, IOC president Jacques Rogge admitted the athletes did not take their tests.
After testifying in Saturday's hearing, Greek track team liaison Giannas Papadogiannakis confirmed he had been contacted by the IOC in advance of the planned drug tests but had been unable to locate the athletes.
The guidelines of the World Anti-Doping Agency stipulate that requests for a delay in testing must be declined if the athlete in question cannot be continuously chaperoned by a suitable official. A missed test can be regarded as a failed one.
What the three-man IOC panel must decide is whether it is a genuine no-show, of which athletes are allowed two before they can be punished, or a refusal, for which the punishment is an automatic two-year suspension.
The IOC disciplinary commission hearing investigating the case consists of Athens coordination committee chairman Denis Oswald, Ukrainian pole vault legend Sergei Bubka and IOC vice president Thomas Bach.
A hero in Greece after winning the gold medal in the 200 meters four years ago in Sydney, Kenteris was a candidate to be Greece's flag-bearer in Friday night's opening ceremony but was bypassed following the bizarre turn of events.
Thanou won the silver medal in the 100 in Sydney.
Kenteris and Thanou missed the tests after being given permission by the Greek Olympic committee to leave the Olympic Village to collect belongings from their home in Chicago.
They apparently asked to take a test later Thursday at the clinic in the Olympic Village rather than at the anti-doping laboratory in Athens.
Neither athlete has been above suspicion over their careers, with a number of reported instances of test avoidance. The most recent was last year, when testers turned up at what was supposed to be a training camp in Crete only to find the pair were in Qatar.