Judgment day

On the eve of the probe findings, headlines rang out with news that attackers had stabbed and beaten sports editor Filippos Sirigos, a key witness in the investigation into Olympic champion Costas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou.

Police also said gas canisters and a bottle of petrol were sent to the owner of Sirigos's newspaper Eleftherotypia in what local media saw as the worst intimidation case against Greek journalists for years.

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis condemned the attack on Sirigos, echoing warnings by Greek officials during the Athens Olympics in August that the scandal could tarnish Greece's image in the world.

The focus is now on whether the two athletes will be charged by prosecutors.

"The results of the investigation may be made known on Wednesday," said a source to close to the probe.

Kenteris, winner of the 200 metres gold medal at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, and Thanou, the 100 metres silver medallist in Sydney, were national heroes but fell from grace as the saga unfolded.

The sprinters said they had a motorcycle crash hours after missing drug tests on Aug. 12. They then stayed in hospital for four days.

Media reports suggested Kenteris and Thanou had staged the accident, and there were significant discrepancies between the hospital doctors' initial diagnosis and the report of a medical examiner who checked the athletes during their hospital stay.

Both athletes pulled out of the Games but denied taking banned drugs and asked for the forgiveness and support of the Greek people.

The controversy is widely regarded as the biggest Olympic drugs scandal since the 1988 disqualification of Ben Johnson.

Prosecutors have been investigating if the pair obstructed a drug test and deliberately provided authorities with false information regarding the motorcycle accident in a cat-and-mouse saga with Olympic officials that went on for a week.

Doctors have also been under investigation, as well as several people who said they witnessed the accident, which the pair said happened when they skidded on a greasy road.

An outside medical examiner found Kenteris had significantly less injuries than stated in the hospital report while Thanou had no single visible injury.

The pair's coach Christos Tzekos, from whose home they set off on the motorbike, has also been under investigation for possession of illegal drugs.

If prosecutors decide to press charges and the two sprinters are found guilty, they would face only light sentences because the issues are regarded as misdemeanours punishable by just a few months in jail.

A judge could also pass suspended sentences or order the pair to pay fines to avoid going to jail.