Olympics: Doping case drags on

A sports court postponed the doping case involving Greek sprinters Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou yesterday after a key arbitrator quit his post. The Court of Arbitration for Sport, the final court of appeal for sports disputes, was to hear evidence on February 22-23 before ruling on the sprinters' alleged doping violations at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

But the hearing was yesterday postponed to a later date when CAS said the Canadian president of the arbitral panel, Yves Fortier, had resigned.

Lawyers for Kenteris and Thanou, who failed to show up for a drugs test hours before the start of the 2004 Games, this month filed a motion to remove Fortier because of a conflict of interest.

"In his resignation letter addressed to CAS, Fortier emphasised that he was deeply troubled by the accusations raised against him personally by the two Greek athletes and by the Greek Athletics Federation," a CAS statement said.