The Hellenic Radio (ERA): News in English, 08-04-05

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From: The Hellenic Radio (ERA) <www.ert.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] At Greece's National Weightlifting Team

05 Apr 2008 20:12:00

By Andreas Roditis

Sources: ���-��� 105.8

The doping scandal that hit Greeces national weightlifting team after a surprise WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) checkup, in which eleven out of 14 members of the team were tested positive for banned substances, has assumed dramatic dimensions.

The Greece team is likely to be barred from the forthcoming European championship and the Beijing Olympic Games, as well. Greek weightlifting coach Christos Iakovou, who tendered in his resignation, was suspended.

In the meantime, Greeces Sports Minister Giannis Ioannides demanded detailed figures on the recent tests the Greek weightlifters have undergone be released.

In two days time, a meeting will be held between Culture Minister Michael Liapis and the Federations of the Olympic Sports, including the Greek Olympic Committee. "We [Greece] are not interested in the number of medals we will win, as long as they are clean," Hellenic National Council of Combating Doping head Hara Spiliopoulou told NET radio.

The case should be thoroughly investigated, noted PASOK (Panhellenic Socialist Movement), while KKE (Greek Communist Party) stressed that the use of banned substances is a common secret. The majority of the people involved in sports are well aware of the doping problem, underlined SYN (Coalition of the Radical Left) head Alexis Tsipras. Finally, LAOS (Popular Orthodox Rally) President George Karatzaferis said that this was a coupe de grace to the reliability of the blood-thirsty professional sports.

Translated by Areti Christou

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