New fall horror at games

Greece faced a huge human tragedy involving one of its Olympic team today just four days before the start of the Athens Olympics.

Just 48 hours after judo competitor Eleni Ioannou was seriously injured after falling from the balcony of her third-floor apartment, her boyfriend was rushed to hospital after falling from the same Athens building.

While Ioannou was fighting for her life today in what doctors said was a 'critical condition' her boyfriend was seriously injured in the fall which police feared may have been a suicide attempt.

The 24-year-old was rushed by ambulance to Athens's Evangelismos Hospital.

A police source said: "He fell from the same balcony and was seriously injured. Police are now investigating the cause of the fall but are considering that he may have jumped. They are treating it as a suicide attempt."

The man, who had allegedly argued with Ioannou before she fell in the early hours of Saturday morning, had been briefly questioned by police but was later released.

Relatives of Ioannou, 20, had said at the time that she tried to kill herself.

Ioannou has been on life support machines in an intensive care ward at the Red Cross Hospital in Athens with multiple fractures to her head and body.

Sobbing relatives kept a vigil in the corridors outside her room over the weekend.

Ioannou, who was due to compete in the 70kg-plus category, had planned to move into the Olympic Village with the rest of the team on Wednesday. The affair is a massive tragedy for Greek Olympic officials and the 570-strong team so close to one of the country's most important moments in the history of sport.