Now having returned to official competition following a lengthy and controversial doping-related ban, 32-year-old sprinter Katerina Thanou, the former World and European Indoor Champion and Olympic medalist, told reporters yesterday that she had “nothing to prove” ahead of her appearance at this weekend’s European Indoor Athletic Championships in Birmingham, England.

Thanou will run in the 60-meter dash at the event, her biggest outing yet since returning to the circuit with a couple of wins in as many races at recent domestic meetings.

The Greek sprinter, who served a lengthy ban for failing to show up for an anti-doping test on the eve of the 2004 Olympics, clocked 7.24 seconds last weekend to beat Russian Mariya Bolikovs at the IAAF Permit Athens 2007 Indoor Athletic Championships in Athens.

Thanou has a personal best of 6.96, recorded in 1999, a national record.

“I have nothing to prove to anybody. I have a collection of medals that others would envy,” Thanou told reporters before checking in at Athens Airport yesterday.

“The most important thing for me is that I will be taking part in this competition.”