ATHENS - A Greek court on Thursday postponed until next year the trial of disgraced Olympic sprinters Costas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou, implicated in a doping scandal at the 2004 Athens Games.

Kenteris, the 200 metre champion in 2000, and Thanou, who finished second in the 100 at the same Sydney Games, are charged with giving false statements to police after missing doping tests and claiming they were involved in a motorcycle crash.

"The trial was put off for February 2, 2009, because neither the defendants nor their lawyers could appear in court for personal reasons," a court official, who declined to be named, told Reuters.

The trial has been repeatedly postponed, most recently in September because their coach's lawyer was absent.

Kenteris and Thanou, who were training partners, missed a doping test on the eve of the 2004 Athens Olympics and were hospitalized for four days after saying they crashed their motorcycle near their coach's home.

They said they were trying to make it back to the Olympic Village, but were never drug tested during the Athens Games.

An inquiry into the crash found discrepancies in their testimonies and the medical reports of their injuries, while one witness was charged with perjury.

If found guilty of making false statements, the two sprinters face a possible five-year sentence.

Thanou and Kenteris, who admitted violating anti-doping rules, have been free to race since December 2006 but are not expected to take part in the Aug 8-24 Olympic Games in Beijing.