Steroids Found in Coach's Warehouse

Greek medical chiefs have discovered anabolic steroids at a warehouse used by the coach of disgraced sprinters Kostas Kederis and Ekaterina Thanou, Greece's National Organisation of Medicines said today.

A prosecutor and two inspectors working for the agency searched the offices and warehouses of coach Christos Tzekos last Friday and found small amounts of the supplements, which they removed from the building.

"The supplements included materials that do not have a distribution license," read a statement from the agency, which also said that more than 1,000 'units' of food supplements contained the stimulant ephedrine as their main ingredient.

The agency, which is known as EOF, also revealed that "small quantities of medicines that contained anabolic steroids" were found in the warehouse.

EOF vowed to "take all the necessary actions that are foreseen by the law" and added that "the inspections would continue and expand in all directions."

The search of Tzekos' premises follows the withdrawal of Kederis - the Olympic champion at 200m - and Thanou, who won silver in the 100m in Sydney four years ago, from the Olympics after the pair missed a dope test in the Olympic Village on August 12.

The pair were subsequently admitted to hospital after a reported motorcycling accident, and they withdrew from the Games last Wednesday.

Both athletes maintain their innocence.