Thanou, 36, told the Athens misdemeanour court that she could not recall the exact details of how a motorcycle accident involving her and fellow athlete Kostas Kenteris, who is also on trial, had happened.
The pair are accused of staging the crash on the eve of the Games to avoid a doping test.
In testimony which lasted just over an hour, Thanou said that both athletes entered the Olympic Village, took their accreditations and went to train on the evening of August 12, 2004.
They then went to the home of their coach Christos Tzekos, who she said was furious because news reports were saying that anti-doping controllers had been looking for them but could not find them.
"I never doped or hid from anyone," Thanou told the court.
"We had to do something. Suddenly I saw Kostas getting the keys to the motorcycle and I followed him. During the journey I felt the bike shake and we fell."
Thanou went on to explain that she could not remember how the accident occurred, only that a passing driver who intended to drive them to the Olympic Village instead took them both to the hospital because Kenteris felt faint.
She concluded by saying: "If the doping controller had done their job properly we would not have missed any doping control."
KENTERIS ABSENT
The trial, which took years to start after frequent postponements, began in January and has already been held up due to the absence of witnesses.
If convicted, the sprinters could face up to a five-year suspended jail sentence.
The trial will continue on April 5 with statements from the prosecution.
Kenteris, who has yet to appear before magistrates, was absent again on Monday with his lawyer stating that his client is in the United States for compelling personal reasons.
"I have waited seven years to testify and say things as they really were," Thanou told reporters when leaving the court.
"I expect the judges to take into account the new information received and to make a fair decision."
Kenteris, the 200 metres gold medallist at the 2000 Olympics, and Sydney's 100 metres silver medallist Thanou were acquitted of doping charges in a Greek athletics federation probe in 2005.
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) appealed the verdict at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
They settled out of court in 2006 and subsequently admitted only to anti-doping rule violations, essentially serving out their unofficial two-year suspensions.
The 2004 scandal, regarded as the biggest at an Olympics since Canadian Ben Johnson lost his 100 metres gold in Seoul in 1988 for doping, cast a huge cloud over the Athens Games for the Greek hosts.
source: REUTERS
Editing by Mark Meadows
