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Disgraced sprinter says hostile crowd did not affect her

Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou says she was "not affected" by loud booing in Birmingham that heralded her return to competition after a two-year ban, the athlete told Greek media yesterday.

"I did not hear the crowd, so it did not affect me," said Thanou, who finished sixth in the women's 60m at this weekend's European Athletics Indoor Championships with a race time of 7.26 seconds.

"No matter what people believe or say, all that matters is that I have returned to competition," said the former World and European indoor champion and Olympic medalist.

Thanou recently completed a two-year ban for failing to show up for an anti-doping test on the eve of the Athens 2004 Olympics.

Booed

On Sunday, the 32-year-old was noisily booed on all three occasions she raced in the women's 60m and looked to be visibly affected by the reception.

Thanou said the out-of-medal finish came as no surprise to her.

"It is very difficult for the body to adapt after such a long time, I knew I could not do around 7.10 seconds," she said.

"I knew indoor athletics was a transitional phase, my goal is outdoor athletics and the World Championships," Thanou said.

Belgium's Kim Gevaert won the race on Sunday in 7.12 seconds.

Gevaert, last year's European 100m and 200m champion outdoors, clocked a sizzling 7.10 seconds, the fastest time in the world this year, in Saturday's semi-final but couldn't quite repeat the feat after a sluggish reaction to the gun.

Nervous

"I was so nervous I messed up my start. Yesterday, I felt really good, but the final is always a different race and it's always much much tougher," Gevaert said.

Three Spaniards, led home by gold medalist Juan Carlos Higuiero, clinched the first-ever clean sweep over 1500m at the Championships.

Getting emphatic cheers rather than jeers was Britain's Jason Gardener who won his fourth successive men's 60m title in a sparkling 6.51 seconds, the fastest time by a European this winter.

Craig Pickering made it a one-two for Britain when he came home second in 6.59 seconds.

The medals, and perhaps home advantage, contributed to Britain topping the Championships medal table for the first time ever.
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