Greek runner hit with ban

Greek runner hit with ban

Agence France-Presse
Halkia won a gold medal for 400-meter hurdles at the 2004 Athens Olympics. She was expelled from the Beijing Games this year after testing positive for the steroid methyltrienolone. Officials from the Hellenic Association of Amateur Athletics, or Segas, said yesterday that 29-year-old Halkia had been given the ban.

Halkia denies any wrongdoing and suggested diet supplements may be responsible for the failed doping tests.