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Athens Olympics Sampanis Drug Cheat
withdrawn stamp issue
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Athens
Olympics - Greek Drug Cheat stamp withdrawn after 4 days on sale!
Well, this one will be quite a star in the future is my best
guess.
The Greek Post Office (ELTA) decided to copy what Australia did, and issue
an "Instant" digital print stamp for every Olympic medal winner. In fact the
design is VERY similar to the Australian issues. Like Australia, at a later
date, offset copies were also printed of medal winner stamps. I broke the
story of that revolutionary Australian issue to the world, on the front page
of "Linn's Stamp News":
This idea proved a great success in Greece, and the general
public were the ones out there buying these issues for patriotic reasons
etc. Only a small % of those will ever re-enter the stamp market.
The controversial stamp was issued to honor Leonidas Sampanis,
the Bronze Medal winner in weightlifting in the 62 kilo weight class.
Sampanis won his medal on Monday 16 August and the stamps were on
sparing sale in limited offices starting Tuesday August 17.
Sampanis later failed his drug test (twice)
and on Sunday 22 August the IOC stripped
him of his medal. Consequently, on Sunday
August 22, ELTA ordered that all remaining stamps be taken off sale
nationally and immediately returned to their central office and NONE were to
be sold.
These are the quantities (of A4 sheets) printed the day after
the medal was given to the winner, for each of the 5 main cities:
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Athens: 750
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Thessaloniki: 500
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Volos: 400
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Patrai: 400
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Herakleion: 500
You do that math yourself! Not large numbers at
all. Nearly all stamp sales were to the general public and tourists via this
initial distribution. Many were used on mail and postcards as the 65¢ rate
covered airpost worldwide. They were issued in PO sheetlets of 20 - i.e. two
sheetlets of 10 separated by roulette type serrations.
Stamp collectors, ALL standing order customers,
overseas agents and even Greek dealers were caught totally unawares by this
unexpected weekend medal stripping development when Post Offices were
closed. Most were simply expecting to receive their entire pre-order of
Medal Winner stamps soon after the Olympic Games closing ceremony on August
29. Why would anyone need to buy them one at a time during the Olympics?
Will receive worldwide
catalogue listing
So the situation is
most unusual. This was a legally issued stamp, and was on sale at face
value for 4 working days at post Offices across Greece.
This stamp will clearly be listed and priced
in all stamp catalogues on earth, and will be allowed for in all printed
albums printed. History shows that
demand will not be so much NOW, but from mid 2005 when catalogues are issued
and album supplements mailed to 1000s of collectors globally.
The small problem with the Drug Cheat issue is
that no-one has any stock! And at this point virtually no-one in the stamp
world outside Greece knows this stamp is even withdrawn.
In my view it could soon be the priciest Greek
issue for the past half century. Right now that distinction is held by the
1954 purple Ancient Art top value - which even with a high million print run
is catalogued at 270 Euros = $A465. No-one has any idea exactly how many
65¢ Sampanis drug cheat stamps were sold but I can certainly guarantee it
was a FRACTION of a million copies! My guess is only about 30,000 stamps
were sold, and nearly all these to members of the public and tourists, so
they will be lost forever to philately. A good number of the Greek stamp
issues from the 1940s and 1950s have very high prices of course.
For instance, Greece issued a
set of 1940 National Youth stamps and Airs in 1940 and only allowed them
to be on sale for postage use for 3 days, but retained sets on sale at
Post Offices for another 6 months for collectors. Yet despite this
length of sale the current catalogue price per set is
€1,485 = $A2,550. The Sampanis
issue on sale for 4 days is a VERY interesting and valid comparison.
The supply situation on this Drug Cheat medal stamp has been
very unusual. I know for certain from an internal contact with the Greek PO
that no single source "cornered" any large stocks. Not even smallish
stocks. There were only small routine sales on this to post offices with
nothing larger or more unusual than for the other 16 medal winning stamps.
I was alerted to this withdrawal
very early in the piece and have spent the last month trying to track down
some stock for sale. I emailed every dealer I could locate in Greece, (a
very small data base!) and they were broadly in 2 camps.
They either had sold whatever stock they held for 5 or 10
times face etc early in the piece - assuming ELTA would later issue the
stamps for all comers, and the price would normalise. Or,
they were (and are) sitting on any stocks they had assuming these would be a
$100+ type stamp very soon.
The key to the whole situation is WHAT exactly ELTA - the
Greek PO Bureau was going to do about releasing these stamps in the future.
I am typing this in early October - and the Olympic Games
concluded in August. What I do know is via my contact is that ELTA has
about 13,000 standing order customers on its books. These are the backbone
of all Bureaus, and they are ordinarily looked after VERY well, to repay
their loyalty - and the big money they spend each year.
ELTA planned to mail each of these 13,000 customers a
sheetlet of 10 at face value as a reward for being loyal customers - and
handing them a valuable stamp right from the get-go. If ELTA had the only
say on this, the stamps would have been mailed.
Legal advice says DO NOT
ISSUE THEM
HOWEVER they obtained legal
advice, and my understanding is that was strongly that these stamps
simply CANNOT be mailed in October or indeed at any future time or the IOC
would explode and the stamp issuing reputation of Greece would also be
badly injured or damaged.
Many would not realise but as
these stamps have the Olympic Ring symbol on them, the International
Olympic Committee (IOC) needs to approve all such stamp issues. The IOC I
do know gave Australia Post Philatelic major headaches all during and
leading up to the 2000 Sydney Games for the same reason - they needed to
approve EVERY stamp before it was issued. AND take my word for it, the
IOC reaps a LARGE royalty from the sales of all these stamps.
The IOC has a rock solid policy
that there will be ZERO tolerance for any identified drug cheats.
Therefore the host country issuing stamps depicting a disgraced drug cheat
months after the games concluded would raise the roof off the IOC
headquarters in Lausanne! As it would clearly appear they endorsed this.
I could be proven wrong, but it
is my belief that NO stamps will be mailed by ELTA depicting this drug
cheat Sampanis. Had they done it within a week of the Drug ban, well
they could say "sorry, Sales Dept did it before we could recall them" and
the matter would have rested most likely. But months later no such excuse
will hold water with the IOC.
This leaves at least 13,000
keen collectors of every Greece new issue all needing one of this stamps -
and as many of them collect sheetlets of 10, that is a MASSIVE pent up
demand ready to explode. Not to mention Olympics is one of the most
collected thematics/topicals there is.
ELTA worked hard to try and partially placate their 13,000
best customers by mailing them mid October 2004 a "test sheet" of the
Olympic design stamp, in a folder along with the 16 issued stamps from non
drug cheats. Cost was not cheap - about €130 I understand - or $A225.
This depicted ARIS KARAYEORGOS, who is a former employee of Greek Post
and competed in the 1980 Moscow Olympics in the 20km walk. This info
probably had NOT been reported anywhere else on earth in fact outside
Greece until my posting it on this website! My ELTA contact gave me a
real inside scoop on this one.
Karayeorgos is pictured in a Greek tracksuit top, holding his Olympic
participation medal. The "test" stamp has a denomination of "€0.0" and
across the bottom left hand corner, printed in red is the Greek word
DIAGRAFETE, which means "cancelled" or "Specimen".
20,000 of these "stamps" were released - or a sizeable 200,000
units. However, remember they are not issued stamps, and
will NOT be listed in stamp
catalogues or be allowed for on all printed album pages. The 65¢ Sampanis
Medal winning drug cheat stamp WILL
be in both.
As evidence of
how long ELTA sweated about selling Sampanis, only in November
2004 did they FINALLY decide they were not going to get away with
selling his stamp, and issued an un-announced se-tenant sheetlet of
SIXTEEN of all the other 16 Greek Athens medal winners. The Athens
Olympics concluded latter August, so this took them
months to get around to issuing, as
they always hoped Sampanis stamp could be included in the block of course.
Seeing the
nearly identical sheetlet of 16 of the Australia Sydney 2000 medal winners
(which had HALF the face value of this block!) now sells
for $100, I suggest you grab a sheet of (or more) of these if you
collect Greece, or Olympics. I secured a small stock in mid November as i
know folks on the ground in Athens. 99.99% of dealers and collectors do
NOT know this sheet even exists, and I am advised the number printed was
rather low. At $A60 (or 10 sheetlets for
$A500) there is not much downside!
Remember these
winner stamps have a high face value, being all the International airmail
post stamp denomination.
This is a FAR
neater and more logical way to collect the issued stamps. Stores
beautifully on an album or stockbook page or a #1 size Hagner sheet. AND
it is abundantly clear at a glance that your separate Sampanis stamp is
NOT part of the main PO release when you can see he is not included!
Greek PO Philatelic website is still "under construction"
ELTA is a disaster of Olympic proportions
itself I really must comment here. They have a totally non functioning
website where you cannot even order their other 16 Olympic stamps on-line
in any way.
I
emailed them off their website to order 50 sets of normal stamps (very
sizeable order value €520) and got an unsigned note back Sept 24 saying:
"Dear Sir, Unfortunately our web side is under construction and it is not
possible to subscribe for the time being. If you wish you can send us
your full postal address to receive by letter all the relevant information
materials and documents".
So, instead of having a smooth, functional website up and
running and fully tested before the Games so as to make MILLIONS selling
Olympic stamp products worldwide, we all need to write off for a
brochure! AND then pay them in cash, or bank draft - no credit cards
possible! These guys are bozos.
I spoke today to Max Stern on October 5
as this was written - who is the official Australian agent for ELTA, and
who well over a full month after the Games closing has seen not a single
Greek Olympic new issue stamp, has no idea when he will receive any, and
does not expect to receive any Sampanis at all and he is 'not happy Jan'
to put it mildly.
I have a small number of the Sampanis Drug cheat
stamps for sale that took me a month to track down. I do not believe
any stamp dealer in Australia has these - indeed I would be surprised
even in England or the USA if any dealer has stocks of these - at ANY
price. They cost me well over the going rate as I wanted to secure a
couple of 100 units, and unless you paid well and dug around they simply
were not available. Those that hold them think the price will go way
above present levels - and very soon.
1. Price is
$A60 per MUH
or CTO single (all have
wide selvedge as you can see)
2. Colour Pictorial
FDC of Sampanis stamp. (Super scarce and only
IF in stock)
$A175
3.
$A225 for the block of 4 from very top of sheetlet -
with Olympic medals etc.
4.
$A315 for the block 6 from top sheet, i.e. with
all the
special side inscriptions.
5. Or a MUH (A5 size) sheetlet of 10 :
VERY
popular size with all collectors: $A500
6. A complete un-severed
PO A4 size digital sheet 20 - i.e. 2 panes of
10 - $A900
7. Or - 2 panes
of 10 at sheetlet 20 price. Stores perfectly on a #1 Hagner. $A900
8. All the
other Greek winner stamps, in a Limited Print
sheetlet of all 16. $A60
9. The same
un-announced late issue sheetlet 16 as lot #8 - but TEN sheets
$A500
10. The
OTHER 16 Greece Medallists. 16 sheetlets of 10
(huge face value) $A300
Post and Registered for
Lots 1 or 3 will be only $A5 domestically
or $A12 overseas.
Post and Registered for 4 - 10 will be
$A7 domestic or $A20 overseas due to their larger size.
So clearly you save money if you order 2 lots, as the Registered Post
cost does not alter one cent.
All credit cards accepted at no fee, and of course Lay-By/layaway is
always possible on all sales over $A250
You can order fast on-line at -
https://www.glenstephens.com/order.html
Are these stamps going to go
up in price? I honestly have no idea. Buying a sheet for $A45 a stamp as
lot #7 might see you more than double your money if they get to $100 - or
halve your money if the price settles at $20. There is no way right NOW
of knowing.
If they are catalogued at $500 each in a
few years you are a genius and can dine out on your wisdom for years.
If they are catalogued at $30 in a few years you lose the cost of a pizza
or a bottle of wine at dinner! Lots of upside and very little
downside it seems to me. 
I am simply offering them for more than I paid, and moving
on. It is not often we ever get a chance to buy a stamp "on the ground
floor" from a popular country that was on sale for just 4 days.
Especially a stamp with an Olympic theme, and especially with a story
connected to it like drug cheating and being stripped of a medal. The
last Greek issue on sale for a few days is now Cat over $A2,500 after all.
You decide. The demand for these stamps has not even
STARTED yet, just remember that.
I do not have many stamps at all, (honest!) and when they
are gone I will not be able to replace them. I am certainly going to
write about this issue in my stamp columns as I think it is an interesting
development, and when a lot more folks hear of it, the interest may grow -
who knows.
Finally - these are offered of course on a
"First Come - First Served" basis. I do not have many, and they could
sell out quicker than I imagine. Someone might buy the lot just to sit on
them - I have no idea.
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VERY IMPORTANT
- all my mint Sampanis stamps are quality OFFSET printed. These were issued
just as the stamps were yanked off sale by ELTA and later nearly all were
burnt/destroyed. Nearly ALL the other Sampanis stamps I have seen or heard
of being sold are the DIGITAL (i.e. 'instant') prints. i.e. they were the
only ones on sale nationally for the first
2 or 3 days, and sold well to keen collectors and dealers and the public.
They are quite literally colour photocopies onto unwatermarked paper,
being very "fuzzy/blurry" looking and lacking the fine detail only a
printing plate can offer.
The really tiny "AOHNA 2004" printing top right is an indecipherable blur on
most Digital prints. Sharp and clear on the Offset prints. My fear is in
future if the retail price rises strongly, and a forger gets to work,
replicating the "Digital" version would be incredibly simple. Not so the
Offset printing. A Greek dealer tells me in his view the Offset will end up
being worth TWICE the price of the
Digital as many less exist - time will tell. Remember - what you buy off ME
is Offset printed. Take no chances. |
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Lot #8 - The
un-announced block of 16 Olympic Medal winners - only $A60 the entire block.
(10 for $A500) This came out in November I understand - 3 months after the
issued singles. And as usual I received stock before anyone else here ever
knew about it. I understand it was only for sale to standing order customers,
but with the wackiness of ELTA, who would EVER know what they are doing. It
is not even mentioned or illustrated on their own hopeless website as of
December 1.
Fits perfectly on a #1 Hagner sheet or stockbook page or album page. A FAR
smarter way to store the set of 16 stamps as you can have NO short perfs or
gum bends etc that you'll ALWAYS get on 16 singles. And these are quality
OFFSET printed, not the muddy, blurry 'digital' set 16 stamps many others
are selling. If you have a Sampanis single, you need this block to be
complete with all 17 issued Greece Olympic stamps. And remember the similar
Australian Olympics 2000 Block 16, at HALF the face value of this now sells
for $A100. |
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The incredibly RARE FIRST DAY
COVER - $A175.
The leading Greek dealer and catalogue producer tells me only a few 100 ever
issued of ANY kind of FDC. Everyone was waiting for the PO to supply them in
full sets! Possibly the scarcest Olympic FDC from ANY country in the last 50
- 60 years. Only a few in stock, and these will sell FAST. Have 3 of this
cancel and 2 of the far more applicable "Olympic Wreath" FDI cancel. |
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Double perfs
ERROR discovered on Sampanis stamp!
Close up of double perforation.
Double perfs
ERROR discovered on Sampanis stamp!
I was tearing up a sheetlet of 10 for customer orders today
and noticed that the block 4 I had left over was
DOUBLE PERFORATED down the centre!
How this can occur on an offset printed comb perforated issue I have
absolutely no idea, but as you can see (hopefully) from the photo it is so.
It SHOULD be technically impossible. There is no evidence of perf doubling
on the left or right hand vertical margins which is the weird bit.
The other 6 stamps had gone into customer orders, but as I
had already torn them into 6 singles they will not be very evident - you
need an unsevered pair to see this variety properly.
This may well be the only block existing, and no other
sheetlets 10 from same batch in my stock had any perf error.
Price is
$A500 the block 4 as shown - or
$275 each horizontal pair - there
is ONE block only so - "First in - best dressed".
A possibly unique printing error on Greece's scarcest
modern stamp is quite something to add to any Olympic collection!
This Sampanis drug cheat stamp has been front page news all over the stamp
world. And the legend is just starting.
This is from the website of the best selling "Stamp Magazine" in England.
They call the stamp: "one of the major
Olympic rarities of all time" - yet you can still own a
copy for just $A45 from my offer above!
The world's largest selling stamp magazine "Linn's Stamp News" in
the USA ran it as a major piece in mid November 2004.
So did the leading International stamp dealer magazine: "The Philatelic
Exporter".
And "Stamp News" in Australia ran it solo as a lead story on their
front cover in November.
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Drug cheat
creates Olympic rarity
What could prove to be
one of the major Olympic rarities of all time has been caused by the Greek
Post Office (ELTA) issuing an 'instant' stamp for the bronze medal winning
weightlifter Leonidas Sampanis that had to be withdrawn within days after
Sampanis failed two drugs tests.
Sampanis won his medal in the 62kg weight class on Monday, August 16,
2004 and the digitally printed stamps were on sale in a few post offices
from August 17. But Sampanis later failed two drug tests and on Sunday,
August 22 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) stripped him of his
medal.
Later that Sunday ELTA sent a memo to all post offices ordering that
all remaining Sampanis stamps were to be taken off sale nationally,
audited, and immediately returned to its central office on Monday.
Five Greek cities were involved in this digital print campaign and the
quantities (of A4 sheets) printed the day after the medal was won were -
Athens: 750; Thessaloniki: 500; Volos: 400; Patrai: 400; and Herakleion:
500. They were printed and issued in PO sheetlets of 20 - i.e. two 'A5'
sheetlets of 10 separated by roulette type serrations, making a standard
A4-sized paper sheet.
This legally issued stamp was freely on sale at face value for four
working days at post offices across Greece and it will certainly be listed
and priced in all stamp catalogues, and a space will be allowed for it in
all printed albums worldwide. Demand for it is likely to heavily increase
from mid-2005 when catalogues are issued and album supplements mailed to
thousands of collectors globally.
High price
expected
It's believed the
Sampanis stamp could soon be the second (or even first) highest priced
Greek issue of the past 50 years. Right now the priciest distinction is
held by the 1954 purple Ancient Art top value that, even with a high
million print run, is catalogued at €270.
It's unclear exactly
how many 65c Sampanis stamps were sold but ELTA spokesperson Kyriakos
Vlastarakos was quoted in the Greek newspaper Ekathimerini stating that
only 136,000 Sampanis stamps had been printed. A number of sources in
Greece told STAMP MAGAZINE that only 30,000 to 40,000 of these were sold
before their withdrawal. Nearly all those sold were to members of the
public and tourists in sheetlets of 10 and 20. Many were used on mail and
postcards as the 65c rate covered airpost worldwide so they will be
largely lost forever to philately.
In 1940 Greece
issued a set of National Youth stamps and only allowed them to be on sale
for postage use for three days, but retained sets on sale at Post Offices
for another six months for collectors. Despite the length of sale of this
set, the current catalogue price is €1,485.
The Sampanis issue
on sale for four days is a valid comparison. It appears to have less
copies issued than any stamp from Greece since that 1940 Youth issue.
A contact within the
Greek PO confirmed to STAMP MAGAZINE that there were only small routine
sales of this stamp to post offices with nothing larger or more unusual
than for the other 16 medal winning stamps.
It's believed that
stamp dealers in Greece have either sold whatever stock they held for well
over face value, assuming ELTA would back down and issue the stamps again,
and the price would normalise or they are sitting on stocks.
Rare first
day covers
First day covers of
the Sampanis issue are very scarce. Greece colour catalogue producer, and
leading dealer A. Karamitzos explained: 'These FDCs are really very rare.
Maybe only a few hundred exist, possibly less. I have one in my current
auction with a starting price of €150'. The stamps have been selling on
the web at around £25 each but with ELTA not releasing more it's likely
that price will double or treble.
ELTA has about
13,000 standing order customers on its books and planned to mail each of
these a sheetlet of 10 at face value as a reward for being loyal
customers. However, after taking two sets of legal advice ELTA was
strongly advised that these stamps can't be mailed out as the IOC would be
likely to take punitive legal action due to its zero tolerance policy on
identified drug cheats.
Also, as these
stamps have the Olympic Ring symbols on them the IOC needs to approve all
such stamp issues. So, it's likely that ELTA will not be mailing any more
of the Sampanis stamps out to existing customers.
With 13,000 regular collectors of every Greece new issue all needing at
least one copy of the Sampanis stamp and the Olympics being one of the
most collected thematics there is clearly going to be a huge demand for
this issue. |
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PRESS PIECES ABOUT THIS DRUG CHEAT WITHDRAWN
STAMP:
Did some more digging
on the web today, and found some useful press articles in English that
may interest you as a buyer. Only 136,000 x Sampanis stamps were
printed in total it seems, (only 13,600 sheetlets of 10) - according to
the PO spokesman after they were withdrawn, and my info is that most of
these were withdrawn by the urgent PO Memo sent Sunday.
The vast bulk of what
was sold apparently were bought by Greek locals as patriotic souvenirs,
one sheet at a time, and to tourists etc and will likely not come back
on to the market. So the number in the stamp market might be lower
than I guessed - probably only a few 1000 pieces - no wonder they are
hard to come by. And being an Olympic topical this really is the icing
on the cake.
There are some 14,000
Greek PO ELTA standing order customers who for STARTERS will need this
stamp when they realise they are not getting it from ELTA. Many of
those collect only in sheetlets of 10, so the Maths look pretty
encouraging. If there are say 5000 stamps out there right now, (and
assuming all have stayed unbroken) only 500 collectors worldwide who
collect by sheetlet of 10 could obtain one, no matter what the price.
They printed only a fairly small initial
amount of ALL the medal stamps, and this guy was only a bronze
winner and it was a pretty unglamorous sport - weightlifting - and a
minor class at that, so sales to public I guess were not mind boggling!
An unusual issue, certainly a
world first for a stamp to be withdrawn due
to a drug cheating positive test!
Remember this withdrawn stamps has attracted
virtually NO publicity yet, anywhere in the world. Other than my email,
99.99999% of dealers and collectors had no idea this stamp existed.
I will certainly be writing about this in
the various Australian and overseas stamp magazines I am a columnist
for, and from that, I imagine awareness will spread pretty quickly.
However, as mentioned on my website on this, the main demand will occur
next year:
This was a legally issued stamp, and was on
sale at face value for 4 working days at Post Offices across Greece.
This stamp will clearly be listed and priced in
all stamp catalogues on earth, and will be allowed for in all printed
albums printed. History shows that demand
will not be so much NOW, but from mid 2005 when catalogues are issued
and album supplements mailed to 1000s of collectors globally.
-------------------------------------------------
SAMPANIS STAMP - August 24, 2004.
Picture of disgraced athlete withdrawn
Special commemorative postage stamps bearing
the image of Leonidas Sampanis - the 32-year-old weightlifter stripped of
his bronze medal after testing positive for excessive testosterone - are
to be withdrawn from circulation, according to a Greek Post Office (ELTA)
decision yesterday. ELTA issued an urgent memo to
the country's post offices to immediately stop the sale of the Sampanis
stamps and take an inventory of stocks.
ELTA's decision is to be finalized by the end of the week.
About 136,000 Sampanis stamps have been printed.
http://ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/news/politics_6696779KathiLev&xml/&aspKath/politics.asp?fdate=24/08/2004
----------------------------------------------------------------
Post
Office stamps out athlete
Athens - Commemorative stamps featuring
doped Greek weightlifter Leonidas Sampanis stand to become a collectors'
item after the Greek post's decision to withdraw the issue because the
athlete failed a drugs test.
The Greek post office ELTA issues
commemorative stamps of every Greek athlete winning a medal in the
Athens Olympics the day following their success.
But the ELTA decided on Sunday to withdraw
from circulation the Sampanis stamp issue after the athlete tested
positive for a banned substance and had his medal withdrawn.
"The sale stopped on Monday," said ELTA
spokesperson Kyriakos Vlastarakos.
Vlastarakos said he had no information on
how many Sampanis stamps had been already sold between Tuesday, a day
after Sampanis won his medal, and Sunday.
According to the English-language daily
Kathimerini, 136 000 Sampanis stamps have been printed.
The Greek post will not wait for doping
results before issuing the next commemorative stamps. "We will continue
to proceed as we have so far," Vlastarakos said.
ELTA rewards Greek athletes winning gold,
silver or bronze medals in the Athens Olympics with 100 000 euros,
50 000 euros and 25 000 euros respectively.
"It's obvious that after the IOC decision to
withdraw the Sampanis medal, he won't receive that money," Vlastarakos
said.
http://www.news24.com/News24/Olympics2004/OutsideTrack/0,,2-1652-1655_1577824,00.html
======================================
http://sport.guardian.co.uk/olympics2004/othersports/story/0,,1287893,00.html
Greek lifter tests positive
Paul Kelso in Athens
Saturday August 21, 2004
The
Guardian
Greece yesterday lost one of its three Athens medals after the
weightlifter Leonidas Sampanis, who won a bronze in the 62kg
category on Monday, was found to have tested positive for a banned
substance.
The Hellenic Olympic Committee last night
confirmed that Sampanis, the 1998 world champion, had been informed
that his A sample was positive and that he had requested that the B
sample be tested.
Sampanis, who won
silver medals in Sydney and Atlanta, was selected under
International Olympic Committee regulations that stipulate the first
four finishers in every event must be tested.
The news came two days after Kostas
Kederis and Ekaterini Thanou withdrew from the games after missing a
dope test. It will heap further embarrassment on the hosts.
Last night Greece's Olympic team manager
Yiannis Papadoyiannakis offered his resignation but it was not clear
if it had been accepted.
Weightlifting has always attracted
suspicion and Sampanis's test comes two days after five competitors
were suspended for failed tests. Two of them learned they were
disqualified as they were about to compete in their events. A
crackdown by the governing body has seen 21 world-class weightlifters
caught or suspended this year.
==================================================
August 23rd - Reuters
By Paul Majendie
The Games got off to a disastrous start
for Greece when sprinters Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou pulled
out over a missed drugs tests. Then weightlifter Leonidas Sampanis
had his bronze medal taken away.
The tale of Sampanis - a hero one minute, a zero the next - took
another bizarre twist.
A Greek prosecutor launched an official investigation into the
circumstances surrounding the positive dope test given by the
weightlifter, a judicial source said.
Sampanis, who lost his bronze medal after testing positive for high
levels of testosterone, has vehemently protested his innocence saying
a drink he consumed after the competition but prior to the doping
control had been spiked.
National coach Christos Iakovou has said he
was given a drink by an unknown person while waiting to give a urine
sample after finishing third in the 62kg category final in front of a
delirious crowd eager to forget about their disgraced sprinters.
"There was mayhem in this room," Iakovou said. "Over 15 people were in
the doping control room when there should have been none except the
athlete and his official escort."
The Sampanis Mini Sheet
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The text at right reads: "Olympic Games Athens 2004 -
Leonidas Sampanis, Weight Lifting, Men's 62 kilo, Bronze Medal, 28th Olympic
Games, Athens 2004". |
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And with the terribly low
rate of the Australian dollar in recent times, the prices on these lists
converts to CHICKEN FEED for those of you who earn other than "Pacific
Pesos." Not ONLY the $US, but Sterling and the EURO are also incredibly
strong against our pathetic little currency. I buy 99% of my stock locally - I
am thought to be the largest stamp buyer in Australia's largest city, so I pay
in Pacific Pesos and sell in Pesos, hence the incredible savings to ALL
overseas buyers. If you buy via "Auction" (even if you are an Australian
resident) you are always paying 15-20% "buyer premium",
plus GST/VAT type taxes and other charges in many cases.
That can add 30% to the hammer price of the stamps!
There is NO
sales tax or "premium" or GST/VAT of any
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NO GST
is added to prices to any items on this website.
All
prices on EVERY list are
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IMPORTANT NOTE
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It was correct at that time, but $A exchange rates have been VERY volatile in
recent times. Please use the spinning gold currency converter found on Home
Page of my website to ascertain the current EXACT amount in your own currency
according to today's mid-rate. Remember - I will
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shown for each lot, (plus shipping and insurance) and NOT the sum shown
as rough approximation in a non-Australian currency.
There are NO nasty 15% "Buyer's
Commissions" or other such outrageous fees added to the price YOU pay
when you deal with Glen Stephens. A $1,000 Kangaroo stamp from me
costs $1,000 plus shipping. You could bid "$1,000" for the same Kangaroo
stamp from an "Auction" house (who in Sydney OFTEN owns the stamp
themselves anyway!) and it might cost $1,000 plus 15% "Buyer Fee" plus 10%
GST on that $1,150 =
the "$1000" stamp is now often invoiced at $1,265.
All depends on whether possibly saving $265 is important to you I
guess.
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GLEN $TEPHEN$
Full Time Stamp
Dealer in Australia for over 25 years.
Life Member - American Stamp
Dealers' Association. (New York)
Also Member - Philatelic Traders' Society. (London) ANDA.
(Melbourne) American Philatelic Society, etc
ALL Postage + Insurance
is extra. Visa/BankCard/MasterCard/Diners/Amex all OK, even for "Lay-Bys"!
All lots offered are subject to my usual
Conditions of Sale, copy upon request BIGGEST STAMP BUYER:
Post me ANYTHING via Registered
Mail for my same-day cheque.
Avoid the GENERALLY 40% Auction "
Commissions"
(15% + 17½ + GST, etc.) AND their five-month delays! Read for details.
"Lothlórien," No. 4 The
Tor Walk, CASTLECRAG (Sydney), N.S.W. 2068
Phone:
(02) 9958-1333
Fax:
(02) 9958-1444
(Both 25 Hours, 7 Days!)
E-Mail:
glen@glenstephens.com
Web Sites:
www.glenstephens.com www.glenstephens.net
or
www.australianstamps.net
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