ATHENS, Aug 13 (AFP) - The doping drama surrounding Greek sprinter stars Kostadinos Kenteris and Ekaterini Thanou attracted blanket coverage across local media Friday, eclipsing final preparations for the Athens Olympics.
"Greeks' blood froze in their veins," the Eleftheros Typos said on its front page, featuring a picture of the two stars with their coach Christos Tzekos while the Ethnos daily demanded in a headline: "Tell us the truth".
Kenteris -- the reigning 200m Olympic champion who is idolised in Greece -- and Thanou could face expulsion from the Olympics after missing a mandatory drugs test on Thursday.
The pair were later hospitalised in a motorcycle accident in the early hours of Friday, adding a fresh twist to the drama. News of the accident broke too late for most papers, which were left focusing on the drug test controversy.
Some papers said it was time for Kenteris -- who has battled persistent speculation over doping because of his reluctance to compete regularly outside of Greece -- to set the record straight.
"Costas (Kenteris), Katerina (Thanou) and you Mr. Tzekos, you owe it to all Greeks to prove now that you're clean," the Ethnos daily said.
"All Greeks demand from the IOC to offer the Greek champions a chance to prove their innocence," it added.
"The Olympic Games start with a megatonne bomb on their Greek foundations," daily Eleftherotypia said in a report.
"Greece's biggest celebration on fire," top-selling daily Ta Nea said in an editorial.
"Greece stands ready, surpassing all expectations, to welcome Olympic visitors and to organise orderly and safely the brightest Games ever ... the only dark spot is the wild backstage episode with our Olympic champions Kenteris and Thanou," the editorial said.
The Greek press widely attributed the IOC's decision to put Greece's sporting heroes to the doping to pressure from the United States.
"If you don't test the Greeks, we'll pack and leave,'" Eleftherotypia quoted US officials as saying after a reported surprise test of eight US athletes on Thursday.