A summary of the tribunal's decision has as following:

• Kenteris and Thanou were not informed of the anti-doping control asked by the International Olympic Committee, in the afternoon of August 12th. The official call was never submitted to them but to a third person. The flow of information stopped to Christos Tzekos, as also resulted by the investigation contacted by the Disciplinary Committee of the IOC. The results of this investigation were submitted to the IOC in August 21, 2004. In addition, the investigation revealed the fact that neither Tzekos, nor did any other person attempt to contact the athletes by telephone or any other way.
• As a result, the time margin of 1 hour awarded to them is not compatible to the current athletics legislation (adopted by the IOC, IAAF or WADA). The athletes shoud have been awarded a period of 12 hours, according to the Prosedural Guidlelines for anti-doping control, Article 4.18.
• Konstantinos Kenteris had officially informed the IAAF before leaving Chicago (August 11, 2004) and going to Germany. The International Federation verifies that this notification was sent, with a letter already received by the Greek Federation. In contrast, Katerina Thanou missed that call.
• Christos Tzekos has been cleared of the accusation of importing, selling and promoting of illegal substances, because of insufficient pieces of evidence. Also, the coach had officially informed the Greek Federation for the moves of his athletes in Chicago and Tel Aviv.
• Tzekos was informed by the Head Coach Odysseas Papatolis that his athletes were called for anti-doping control in the evening of August 12th. The tribunal accepts that Tzekos did not inform Kenteris and Thanou, who learnt what was happening by the media.

• Konstantinos Kenteris and Katerina Thanou are cleared of the accusation of violating the IAAF Regulations, Articles 32.2.c and 32.2.d
• Christos Tzekos is cleared of the accusation of violating the articles 54.6 and 56.3 of the IAAF anti-doping regulation
• Christos Tzekos is considered quilty of violating the article 32.2 of the IAAF anti-doping regulation

The 5-member Tribunal Committee consists of:

• Mr. Kostas Panagopoulos, Vice President of the Greek Athletics Federation
• Mr. Panayotis Demakos, Secretary of the Greek Athletics Federation
• Mr. Haralambos Hrysanthakis, Professor of Political Sciences and Public Administration
• Mr. Stylianos Perakis, Professor of International and European Law.
• Mr. Konstantinos Tzenos, Justice, Honorable Member of the Supreme Court

The IAAF now has the right to appeal against the decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.The provisional suspension imposed in December has now been lifted and the athletes are free to compete again. If the body's doping review board refers the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport the suspension will be reinstated.

World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) chief Dick Pound told Reuters: "It doesn't sound like it was the result everyone should have expected. We'll wait for the IAAF. They're the one's who will have first kick at the cat and from the look of their statement they're not very impressed with the decision either. We'll wait and see if the IAAF gets it right and then we have the choice of going to the Court of Arbitration for Sport."

Asked if the decision to clear the pair was an embarrassment, IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said the athletes chose to withdraw from the Games before their case had been fully heard. "We have to remember that the IOC was in the middle of pursuing its disciplinary hearing when the two chose to surrender their (Olympic) accreditations. From that moment on, by their own choice, they excluded themselves (from the Athens Games)," said Davies to Reuters.

The President of the Committee, Mr. Kostas Panagopoulos, stated that the "full text of the decision will be delivered in the coming days, after its submition to the IAAF. The Committee had the mission to judge if there are violations of the anti-doping regulation of the IAAF, to investigate the specific charges made by the International Federation to the athletes and their coach. Nothing more than this, nothing more could be under investigation besides these specific charges. It must be clear that the  decision is also based exclusively upon the current legislation, while other impressions, opinions, estimations, have not any position in this judgement".

The President of the Greek Federation, Vassilis Sevastis, thanks all the members of the Committee, especially the three distinguished jurists who "brought their knowledge and experience in order to achieve a fair and well documented decision"

Just after the announcement the coach Christos Tzekos said: "This desicion is tough for a man who spent his life in the stadiums. I respect the desicions of the Court, the only I want is the best for the athletes. I have always the best feelings for them. With Katerina we are good friends, while I can understand Kostas' reactions in those difficult days of August".

Kenteris' lawyer, Gregory Ioannidis stated that "The decision means Mr Kenteris has been exonerated of highly damaging and unfounded charges which have been extremely harmful for his career. "He has consistently maintained his innocence and this was substantiated by further evidence we were able to submit to the tribunal following its deliberations in January. "This evidence shows Mr Kenteris was never asked to submit to a test by the International Olympic Committee so he could not possibly have been guilty of deliberately avoiding one. It shows he has no case to answer.
Mr Kenteris should now be given the opportunity he deserves to rebuild his career in the full knowledge that there is no stain on his character. He has suffered greatly throughout this ordeal that has exposed both himself and his family to enormous pressures."

Thanou's lawyer, Nikolaos Kollias said "The tribunal proved that Mrs Thanou was never informed of the call. We are very satisfied, this decision was not a surprise for us"

M.N., 18/3/2005