Greek crashes with dual honour, Australians haul mighty

Ethan Switch - Sunday, 22 August, 2004 - 23:58:30 - print it raw

Greece, black with fear of having a more than lacklustre Olympics team, has snared a grand feat by way of unexpectedly high raging levels of testosterone. Through the busting veins and shaky wobble of the weightlifting event, Leonidas Sampanis, 32, managed to secure Greece's first medal for the Athens Games in the 62kg division. Now, following a test and subsequent sanction by the International Olympic Committee, Sampanis has also scored the honour of being the first doped up athlete found positive during the Games.

Following a failure to pass an anti-doping test, the IOC has requested his Olympic identity and accreditation be withdrawn. Complementing his bronze win in the weightlifting, Sampanis was given the gold ahead of many other doped up cheats and secures a place as the first athlete of the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad to be stripped of his medal.

On the other stream resides Australia with a far more glowing shower toward their achievements. Of the two married countries, forever known to compete in every Olympics, sits Australia at the buffet, plate in hand, shovel in the other. Recording yet another haul of medals, the record for Olympic success on foreign soil has been clipped with still just a week left of play remaining. Couch-bred analysts and commentators believe that with the steam the Australians are currently blowing, they could very well break the record haul set back when they played host in Sydney, 2000.

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