Austrian Team Officials Banned – Ski Federation Head Resigns
30/05/2007 |
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Weeks before the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decides which city – PyeongChang, Salzburg or Sochi – hosts the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, there are reports that the Austrian Olympic Committee has imposed lifetime Olympic bans on 14 team officials, and the head of Austria’s ski federation resigned Tuesday as vice president of the Austrian Olympic Committee, (AOC).
Peter Schroecksnadel resigned as vice president of the AOC saying he hopes his departure would help Salzburg’s bid for the 2014 Winter Games, but he said he will not step down as head of the ski federation.
Schroecksnadel told a group of reporters before the AOC executive board session, “I am resigning from this function. I am a fanatic Austrian and in no way do I want to stand in the way of a successful bid”.
He added, “I hope that with this the (Salzburg bid) outcome will be positive and Austria will get the Olympic Games…I don’t want to be to blame”.
Meanwhile, the AOC imposed lifetime Olympic bans Tuesday on 14 team officials linked to the blood doping scandal at the 2006 Turin Games, reports the Associated Press. The 14 would be denied accreditation for all Olympics and any Austrians found guilty of a doping offence in the future will be banned for life from the Olympics, AOC president Leo Wallner told a news conference following a special executive board session.
According to AP the highest-ranking administrator banned was Markus Gandler, the sports director for the cross-country and biathlon teams.
Also banned is Walter Mayer, the former Nordic coach who had been banned by the IOC from two Olympics after a blood doping case at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.
Others banned include team doctor Peter Baumgartl and physiotherapist Volker Mueller, and several officials attached to the cross-country and biathlon teams.
Heinz Jungwirth, the AOC’s secretary-general, said the men were all housed outside the Athletes’ Village but were officially accredited through the Olympic committee. He said, “it was therefore our responsibility”.
Wallner said that the AOC “did not take the steps to control the situation outside the Olympic Village” and in the future the AOC would “inevitably have to take stricter measures” in dealing with its member federations.
(Source: Gamesbids.com)
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