BEIJING, August 10, 2008 (AFP) - Greek sprinter Ekaterina Thanou was excluded from the Olympic Games here on Sunday after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) refused to accredit her.

The 33-year-old missed the 2004 edition after she and fellow sprinter Kostadinos Kenteris missed an eve of Games dope test - their third in a year.

Thanou, a 100m silver medalist in Sydney 2000 who could well get the gold as Marion Jones has been stripped of the title, and Kenteris - the 2000 Sydney Olympics 200m champion - claimed they had had a motorbike accident on the way back to the village to undergo the test.

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