Olympic Games 2004 in Athens,Greece

I think, we should consider sending them the next time to international tournaments.

That is the work,of course, of former Iraqi coach German Bernd Stange.

Greece's top sprinter Costas Kenteris has missed a scheduled dope test on the eve of the Athens Games, Olympics and Greek officials have said.

The Olympic 200 meters champion, the hosts' best medal prospect, was a "fool" and "deserved" to be banned from the Games, an Olympic official revealed.

A Greek team spokesman confirmed that Kenteris and Katerina Thanou, the Greek women's 100 meters silver medallist at Sydney, had both missed drugs tests because team managers had allowed them to leave the Olympic Village on Thursday evening.

"It seems he (Kenteris) didn't turn up for a test which, to me, is absolutely stupid," the Olympic official confirmed.

"If he didn't turn up, he's a fool and he deserves to be out."

A missed drugs test is normally treated as a failed test and leads to immediate suspension from competition.

The Greek team said it had made a written appeal to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to give the two athletes more time to undergo tests.

Athens is the first Olympic Games at which a tough new, unified doping code has been in force.

A ban for Kenteris would be a calamity for Greek hopes after a late spurt of impressive preparation and construction for the Games had silenced critics of Athens' sometimes chaotic build-up.

Greek volunteers at the main complex were visibly distressed by news of the missed test and some were in tears.

Many Greeks had speculated that Kenteris, 31, would be given the high honor of lighting the Olympic flame at Friday's opening ceremony.

A senior official at the world athletics' governing body said there appeared to have been a breakdown in communication in the Greek camp, with team officials failing to tell the athletes that they should be available for testing on Thursday evening.

"According to our information the Greek team leader was informed but not the athletes. To our mind this doesn't constitute a refusal," Istvan Gyulai, secretary-general of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF),

IOC President Jacques Rogge declined to comment on the case.

Kenteris is the only man to win the Olympic, world and European 200 meter titles.

He first attracted attention in 2000 when he set a national record of 20.25 seconds, improving his time to 20.14 in Sydney then to 20.09 when he became the surprise winner before going on to take the world and then European titles.

In the Olympic final, Kenteris came off the bend a meter behind the leaders but surged over the final 50 meters to win ahead of Briton Darren Campbell with pre-race favorite Ato Boldon of Trinidad in third place.

Asked why U.S. forces were not observing a cease-fire for the duration of the Olympic Games in Athens, Powell said the idea was a noble one but that "the world does not stop entirely for the Olympics."