ATHENS, August 6, 2008 (AFP) - Controversial Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou will not attend an IOC disciplinary hearing in Beijing on Thursday which will rule whether she can compete in the upcoming Games, her lawyer said Wednesday.

'Thanou will not attend the committee hearing and neither will her legal team. We will send a memo instead,' her lawyer Nikos Kollias told AFP.

The IOC insists examining the Sydney Games 100m silver medalist's entry over a doping test controversy dating from the Athens 2004 Olympics.

The 33-year-old rocked the last Games when she and sprint partner Costas Kenteris failed to turn up for a dope test and claimed they had a motorcycle accident which landed them in hospital.

Both later turned in their accreditation and were provisionally banned in 2004 by athletics governing body IAAF, sitting out competition for more than two years before eventually admitting having missed three doping tests prior to the Athens Olympics.

The IOC says it has summoned Thanou over 'disrepute and prejudice caused to the Olympic Movement' and also over an ongoing perjury trial in Greece pertaining to the alleged motorcycle accident.

But her legal team counters that the IOC 'appears to have a personal vendetta' against Thanou as several other athletes who actually tested positive and served bans will be competing in Beijing.

'We are being asked to answer charges that are vague. They should at least tell us which exact rules she is accused of breaking. Being called to a hearing without being able to prepare counter-arguments is contrary to all legal procedure,' Kollias said.

He added: 'The IOC has no jurisdiction to judge the court procedure in Greece. There is no conviction there, and in all likelihood she will be acquitted.'

Thanou also stands to inherit the gold medal stripped off Marion Jones after the American admitted to being doped at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, but the IOC has repeatedly postponed a decision.