Greek players in Olympic doping scandal

Two of the Greek-American members of the Greek national baseball team have tested positive for a substanced banned in the Olympics, according to Reuters:

Greek baseball team spokesman refused to give the names of the two players who failed their first drug test until a second had been carried out. But he said it was "100 percent that two Greek-Americans have failed".

The newspaper Eleftherotypia quoted the Greek baseball federation's Panagiotis Mitsiopoulosone as saying one had tested positive for a steroid and another for a diuretic "in the first sample taken by the Greek Olympic Committee".

One had advised in advance that he was taking a prescription diuretic medicine for a medical condition. The second case involve the banned steroid stanozolol, the drug that wrecked the career of Canadian 100 metres runner Ben Johnson after winning in the 1988 Seoul games.

Stanozolol is an anabolic steriod sold under the trade name Winstrol in the United States, and is used to treat hereditary angioedema. In March, use of the same perfomance-enhancing drug led to the suspension of a member of the Australian Olympic baseball team.