Fani Chalkia (, , born 2 February 1979), also transliterated as Halkia or Khalkia, is a retired

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

hurdler Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today ...

. She won an Olympic gold medal in the women's 400 m hurdles at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Biography

Chalkia was born near the city of

Larissa Larissa (; , , ) is the capital and largest city of the Thessaly region in Greece. It is the fifth-most populous city in Greece with a population of 148,562 in the city proper, according to the 2021 census. It is also the capital of the Larissa ...

on 2 February 1979.

2004 Olympics

At the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

Chalkia participated in the women's 400 m hurdles. During the semifinals she set a new Olympic record in the event, which was the sixth fastest time ever. In the final she finished in 52.82 seconds, winning the gold medal more than half a second ahead of second-placed

Ionela Târlea Ionela Târlea (during marriage ''Târlea-Manolache;'' born 9 February 1976) is a former track and field athlete, competing internationally for Romania. She won the silver medal in the 400 m hurdles at the 2004 Summer Olympics. At the same games ...

and bronze medallist

Tetyana Tereshchuk-Antipova Tetyana Tereshchuk-Antipova (née Tereshchuk, , born 11 October 1969), also spelled Tetiana Tereschuk-Antipova, is a female Ukrainian 400 m hurdler. She was born in Luhansk. She won bronze at the 2004 Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympic ...

2008 Olympics

On 16 August 2008, during the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

it was announced that she had tested positive for the

banned substance In competitive sports, doping is the use of banned athletic performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) by athletes, as a way of cheating. As stated in the World Anti-Doping Code by WADA, doping is defined as the occurrence of one or more of the anti-d ...

methyltrienolone. Chalkia denied she had taken any banned substance, and asked for her 'B' sample to be tested, which also tested positive the next day. 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.

Doping conviction

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. 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.

Personal bests

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chalkia, Fani 1979 births Living people Greek female hurdlers Greek female sprinters Athletes from Larissa Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Greece Olympic gold medalists for Greece Doping cases in athletics Greek sportspeople in doping cases European Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympiacos athletics athletes Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Greek Athletics Championships winners