Sprinter Katerina Thanou said in an interview published yesterday that she wants to run again if she is cleared by the IAAF, the world athletics’ governing body, of failing to attend three drug tests before the Athens Olympics last summer.

“If given the green light, I will run again,” Thanou told Sunday’s edition of To Vima newspaper, adding: “Any athlete would have to be very stupid to take illegal substances when they know that they can undergo tests at any given moment.”

The Greek amateur athletics federation (SEGAS) cleared Thanou and fellow sprinter Costas Kenteris 10 days ago of charges that they dodged the tests in the lead-up to the August Games, laying the blame for the runners’ no-shows on their controversial coach at the time, Christos Tzekos, who was suspended for four years.

However, the IAAF is likely to appeal the decision with the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Thanou indicated yesterday that she thought her and Kenteris’s problem had been one of style rather than substance. “I always said we needed a public relations person,” she said.