A Greek court Tuesday cleared former sprint stars Costas Kenteris and Ekaterina Thanou of perjury in a trial stemming from one of the biggest scandals of the Athens 2004 Olympics.
An appeals panel of three judges voted unanimously to drop charges against the athletes for lack of evidence, and also reduced a sentence against their coach, Christos Tzekos, for importing and trading banned sports substances.
Tzekos' suspended sentence was reduced from 33 months to a year.
Thanou, who took silver in the 100-meters at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, and Kenteris, the 200 meters champion, were initially handed suspended 31-month sentences in May for falsely claiming that a motorcycle accident led them to miss a doping test on the eve of the 2004 Games.
Both athletes, who are now retired, were also accused of encouraging medical staff to issue false certificates on their alleged injuries from the accident. Kenteris and Thanou were kicked out of the Athens Games for missing the pre-competition doping test.
