By Fitzgerald Cecilio

London, United Kingdom

World indoor high jump champion Dimitrios Chondrokoukis of Greece has pulled out of the Olympics after testing positive for anabolic steroids.

"We will not tolerate doping. We want to get many medals. However, we want clean medals," Greek Olympic Committee president Spyros Kapralos said.

Chondrokoukis, one of the main rivals to Britain's Robbie Grabarz for the Olympic gold, is now facing a two-year ban after testing positive for stanozolol, the banned steroid that was used by disgraced Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson when he won the 100 meters at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Kyriakos Chondrokoukis, the athlete's father and coach, confirmed that his son had failed a drug test following an unannounced, out-of-competition visit by testers nine days ago.

"My son will not be participating in the Olympics, leaving an unfulfilled dream," said Kyriakos, who then submitted his resignation to the Greek athletics federation after 14 years as a coach.

Kyriakos said they have no intention of challenging the result of the test. "The paradox of the use of such an easily detectible banned substance by a recent world champion who is under the microscope of doping control authorities, and on the eve of the Games, is blatantly obvious," he said.

Chondrokoukis won his first major title when he set a personal best of 2.33 meters to claim the world indoor crown in Istanbul in March while Grabarz finished just sixth with a clearance of 2.31 meters.

The Greek track and field team has already taken a hit with the loss of Voula Papachristou, who was expelled after posting a racial tweet about African immigrants in Greece.

The Hellenic Olympic Committee removed Papachristou after she tweeted "with so many Africans in Greece at least the West Nile mosquitoes will eat homemade food." The triple jumper later issued an apology after the ruling was announced.

Just days before the Olympics Games begins and a Greek triple jumper is pulled from the national team for posting a racist tweet

 

 

Greek High Jumper Tests Positive for Steroids