Thanou settles for sixth

Punished sprinter misses medal at Europeans; silver for Tsatoumas in long jump

Performing under the shadow of sprinter Katerina Thanou’s first international outing since the recent end of her two-year doping-related ban, long-jumper Louis Tsatoumas won a silver medal at the European Indoor Championships in Birmingham, UK, yesterday.

A former European junior champion, the 25-year-old Tsatoumas registered an 8.02-meter jump for the silver, the consistent performing athlete’s 51st career jump over the 8-meter mark.

Tsatoumas held first place until the fifth of six attempts, but was overtaken by Italy’s American-born Andrew Howe, who overtook the Greek leader with an 8.30-meter jump, this year’s best in Europe, for the gold. It was also good enough for a new national record.

Howe, 21, who won junior world titles, both in the long jump and 200 meters in 2004, is also the European champion in outdoor competition.

Thanou, who reached yesterday’s 60 meters final, ended sixth with a time of 7.22 seconds, well below her personal best of 6.96 seconds, a national record set in 1999.

Old rival Kim Gevaert of Belgium – who had voiced doping suspicions against Thanou when the Greek sprinter beat her to the European 100-meter title in 2002, prior to the eventual ban – won the gold medal with a time of 7.12 seconds, adding to last year’s European outdoor titles in the 100- and 200-meter dash. It was her third successive 60m title at the European Indoors. Russia’s Yevgeniya Polyakova was second in 7.18 and Poland’s Daria Onysko took bronze in 7.20.

Now 32, Thanou, the former World and European Indoor Champion and Olympic medalist, was suspended before the start of the Athens Olympics in 2004 along with teammate Costas Kenteris for failing to show up for an anti-doping test.

The two athletes, with the support of their coach, team officials,and doctors, attributed their absence to an alleged motorcycle accident and spent several days in the hospital.

Over the weekend, Thanou, who won her first heat and ended second in the semifinal to reach yesterday’s final, was noisily booed on all three occasions. She looked visibly affected by the reception and, in the final, had a poor pickup after her customary lightning start.

Thanou, who who went to the European Indoors having returned to competition with two domestic wins, said she was simply happy to be competing again.