Fani_Chalkia
Fani Chalkia
Greek hurdler
Fani Chalkia (Greek: Φανή Χαλκιά, [faˈni xalˈca], born 2 February 1979), also transliterated as Halkia or Khalkia, is a retired Greek hurdler.[1][2]
Chalkia was born in Larissa, and represented Olympiacos. She won the gold medal in the women's 400m hurdles at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. During the semifinals Chalkia set an Olympic record of 52.77 seconds.
On 16 August 2008, during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing it was announced that she tested positive for the banned substance methyltrienolone.[3][4] Chalkia denied she had taken any banned substance, and asked for her 'B' sample to be tested, which also tested positive the next day.[5] On 26 November 2008, the Greek Athletics Federation announced that she would serve a two year ban from the sport effective from August when Chalkia was expelled from the 2008 Summer Olympics.[6]
In 2015, a Greek court convicted Chalkia of intentional doping and handed her a seven month jail sentence, suspended pending an appeal; this appeal was successful as on 19 February 2016, Chalkia was unanimously acquitted by the Athens Court of Appeal of all charges for the intentional use of banned substances.[7] The court ruled that the former champion had fallen victim to a circuit of adulterated drugs, and also acquitted her trainer Giorgos Panagiotopoulos, who was facing charges of intentionally supplying banned substances.[8]
