Former Olympic hurdles champion Fani Halkia has been suspended for two years for doping, Greek sports officials said yesterday.

Halkia, the 400m hurdles gold medalist at the 2004 Athens Olympics, was expelled from the Beijing Games this year after testing positive for the steroid methyltrienolone.

Officials from the Hellenic Association of Amateur Athletics, or Segas, said yesterday that the 29-year-old Halkia had been given the ban at a board meeting of the sporting body held on Wednesday. Halkia denies any wrongdoing and suggested tampered diet supplements may be responsible for the failed doping tests. Fifteen Greek athletes were found to have taken methyltrienolone ahead of the Beijing Olympics, including Halkia.

(Shanghai Daily November 28, 2008)