Prologue looks like a Greek tragedy

OLYMPICS: At last the Greeks have found a story to rival the Iliad. It's one of heroes, their adored Olympic sprinter Kostas Kenteris, and his female partner in fame Ekaterini Thanou. It's one of a long, desperate journey in search of greatness. One that surely now must end in tragedy.

This morning Athens is hung-over and recovering from the most theatrical opening ceremony in Olympic history. Both Kenteris and Thanou are in an Athens hospital, recovering from their motorcycle accident of Thursday night. No serious injuries, mercifully, just cuts and bruises.

But on Monday they'll find out if they've been thrown out of the Olympic Games, the result of some blatant drug-test dodging.

Their country already feels cursed and may yet feel ashamed. The world won't have known a drugs story quite like it.

Ever since Athens formally started preparing to host the Olympics at the close of Sydney four years ago, Kenteris has been their headline act. Just last week he was voted the most popular man in Greece and his target in Athens, the 200 metres final next Thursday week, was the first to sell out. Almost a year ago.

Thanou has been slightly less publicised in the countdown to Athens but these Olympics were also meant to be her finest moment. Four years ago in Sydney she took silver behind Marion Jones in the 100 metres. With Jones not on the start line Thanou believed she could win. She's a former world indoor and reigning European champion.

Ejecting the two from the Athens Games could be the hardest decision the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has ever had to make. Yet IOC president Jacques Rogge said their current status would bring no sympathy.

"The fact that they are Greek will have absolutely no impact on the disciplinary committee of the IOC," he said. "Any athlete that we can catch, sanction and send out of the Olympic Village is a victory for sport. It strengthens the Games. The more we catch, the better it is."

So their fate lies in the hands of that three-man IOC committee, which includes former Olympic pole vault great Sergey Bubka.

Initially the IOC called them to a hearing at 10.30 yesterday morning but both athletes later got a medical certificate to say they weren't fit to leave hospital and should not attend any hearing for another 48 hours.

A statement on their injuries in the crash, in which no other vehicle was involved, said Kenteris "sustained a slight head injury, a sprain to the vertebra at the back of his neck, a knee sprain and scratches to his right leg".

Thanou suffered "slight abdominal injuries, a sprain to the right leg".

How and why they ended up in hospital takes a little explaining. Best to start with the fact that both athletes have never left the list of track and field's most suspicious. Or what the drug testers might call "most wanted". They race so sparingly and train so mysteriously and peak so perfectly that inevitably they've left a trail of questions in their wake.

So essentially this looks like a race against the drug testers. It started earlier this week when the pair missed a drugs test in Chicago after departing for Athens a day earlier than planned.

Arriving home at 3 o'clock Thursday afternoon, Kenteris and Thanou first headed for the Olympic village, where they were said to have been given leave to return to their homes to collect personal belongings. At 4.15 IOC testers came knocking at the village door, intent on getting a random sample from the two.

Greek officials were asked to find them. Seemingly the two asked for time to return to the village. By 8.30 the Greek officials confirmed neither had yet presented for the test. At 10.15 news broke that they'd fallen off a motorbike borrowed from their coach, Chistos Tsekos, on a brief visit to his home in Glyfada, a suburb of Athens.

Homer would have thrown down his pencil at this stage.

So when Athens woke up yesterday morning to the news that their two stars were in hospital after a motorcycle crash the first reaction was shock. Soon that turned to suspicion and finally the realisation that sport's worst ever doping scandal - with the possible exception of Ben Johnson in Seoul in 1988 - was right on their doorstop less than 12 hours before the Games' opening.

In announcing the deferment of the hearing until Monday, the IOC said they needed to ensure "a fair process and give due consideration to the athletes" and that the original delegation of four, chaired by the chef de mission of Greece, had requests from the athletes that the hearings be postponed, and also presented the medical certificates.

What seems inescapable though is the athletes are facing indictment on a doping violation, namely a "missed test". Under guidelines of the World Anti-Doping Agency, Kenteris, 31, and Thanou, 29, would face an automatic two-year ban if deemed guilty.