- Title: ITALY: Doping controversy lingers in Austrian Olympic camp.
- Date: 23rd February 2006
- Summary: SESTRIERE, ITALY (FEBRUARY 23, 2006) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF AUSTRIAN SKI FEDERATION PRESIDENT PETER SCHROECKSNADEL ARRIVING VARIOUS OF MEDIA SURROUNDING SCHROECKSNADEL JOURNALISTS SPEAKING TO SCHROEKSNADEL (SOUNDBITE) (German) AUSTRIAN SKI FEDERATION PRESIDENT PETER SCHROECKSNADEL SAYING: "I do not have any internal conflict with the federation. What I don't understand is that the National Olympic Committee has a team here, we are a part of that team, this team is very strong, we are winning a lot. I do not understand why we cannot be happy about this. I do not understand why negative headlines should always cover the frontpages. Until today nothing has been confirmed. It is not yet known whether the results are positive or negative. It would be nice to have these results. Other nations have proven positive in doping controls, but nobody talks about this. I cannot understand the reason why there are continuous attacks on us. I cannot justify them." CAMERAMAN (SOUNDBITE) (German) AUSTRIAN SKI FEDERATION PRESIDENT PETER SCHROECKSNADEL SAYING: "What I said during the press conference is that according to the protocols which we have studied, there is the possibility that non authorised methods may have been used, methods which are not compliant with IOC rules. For this reason we have suspended them, but the commission which will sit in Innsbruck will decide whether these methods were legitimate or not." JOURNALISTS TAKING NOTES (SOUNDBITE) (German) AUSTRIAN SKI FEDERATION PRESIDENT PETER SCHROECKSNADEL SAYING: "The question is whether the rotten apples are here by us or somewhere else. The answer is that the rotten apples are not in our federation." [REPORTER ASKS: "Where are the rotten apples?"] "Maybe they are with (Austrian National Olympic Committee Secretary-General Heinz) Jungwirth. Someone should go and have a look." PRESIDENT OF AUSTRIAN NATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (NOC) LEO WALDNER SPEAKING TO JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) PRESIDENT OF AUSTRIAN NATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (NOC) LEO WALDNER SAYING: "They never said anything about the banning. Maybe there were some members or whoever has to say something or wants to say something, who says there should be a ban or whatever, but this is not the official attitude or the official opinion of the International (Olympic) Committee." VARIOUS OF WALDNER AND JOURNALISTS
- Embargoed: 10th March 2006 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Italy
- Country: Italy
- Topics: Sports
- Reuters ID: LVA1JB8WWKJ4DTG6FDPDBWFSKSYH
- Story Text: Austrian Ski Federation President Peter Schroecksnadel said on
Thursday (February 24) that a doping controversy surrounding the country's
biathlon and cross-country athletes was unfair and should not be
over-publicised until doping control results are made public.
Schroecksnadel's comments come after Italian police raided the bases of
the skiers last Saturday (February 18) when banned Austrian coach Walter Mayer
was seen visiting the athletes' homes.
Mayer is suspected of having conducted blood transfusions on some of
the athletes, prompting a doping probe which has cast a pall over the Turin
Games.
"What I don't understand is that the National Olympic Committee
has a team here, we are a part of that team, this team is very strong, we are
winning a lot. I do not understand why we cannot be happy about this. I do not
understand why negative headlines should always cover the frontpages. Until
today nothing has been confirmed. It is not yet known whether the results are
positive or negative. It would be nice to have these results. Other nations
have proven positive in doping controls, but nobody talks about this. I cannot
understand the reason why there are continuous attacks on us. I cannot justify
them," Schroecksnadel said.
Austria have launched a probe into the police raids on the team's
Olympic biathletes and cross-country skiers, prompted by a visit from Mayer
who was barred from the Games for his role in a previous blood transfusion
scandal.
Acting on a tipoff that Mayer had been present, police confiscated
syringes and blood transfusion equipment found at the athletes' houses.
The Austrian Ski Federation have said the kits were used for
haemoglobin tests.
The raids on the Austrian teams' privately rented lodgings in San
Sicario and Pragelato have dominated the Games throughout its second week.
Ten of the competitors were tested by the IOC following the police
swoop and the Austrian team is still awaiting the results.
Another coach, Emil Hoch, also left after the raid and has since been
suspended from the Games as have two competitors, Wolfgang Rottman and
Wolfgang Perner, who face possible future bans pending an internal
investigation by the Austrians.
"According to the protocols which we have studied, there is the
possibility that non authorised methods may have been used, methods which are
not compliant with IOC rules. For this reason we have suspended them, but the
commission which will sit in Innsbruck will decide whether these methods were
legitimate or not," Schroecksnadel said about the suspensions.
Schroecksnadel failed to comment on a meeting earlier on Thursday with
Turin's prosecutor over the doping controversy.
Mayer had been banned by both the International Olympic Committee (IOC)
and the International Ski Federation (FIS) for his role in a blood-doping
investigation during the last Games in 2002 in Salt Lake City.
He was barred from attending these Games in an official capacity but
was seen mixing with the Austrian athletes by World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)
representatives.
Mayer was not seen by police in Saturday's raids but he surfaced the
next day in Austria where he crashed his car into a road block, was charged
with criminal offences and ended up in a psychiatric hospital, later telling
an Austrian magazine he had felt suicidal.
Mayer himself has previously argued that his method of taking out
athletes' blood, treating it with UV rays and re-injecting it -- which earned
him the Olympic ban at Salt Lake City -- was a kind of therapy and not doping.
But Schroecksnadel, reacting to a question of where blame lay in the
doping affair, pointed fingers at the Austrian National Olympic Committee,
saying the Austrian Ski Federation had "no rotten apples".
"The question is whether the rotten apples are here by us or
somewhere else. The answer is that the rotten apples are not in our
federation," Schroecksnadel said.
"Maybe they are with Jungwirth. Someone should go and have a
look," he added.
Austrian National Olympic Committee Secretary-General Heinz Jungwirth
suggested earlier on Thursday that the Austrian Olympic Committee suspected
someone other than Mayer may have conducted blood transfusions on some of
their athletes.
"When the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) does this kind of
investigation, something must be wrong," Jungwirth told Reuters.
"We don't suspect any person in particular. But there must have
been someone who handled these materials."
Earlier on Thursday there was speculation that the IOC could ban
Austria from future Olympics Games after the major doping scandal, but
Austrian NOC President Leo Waldner played down rumours of a ban saying no such
decision had been taken.
"They never said anything about the banning. Maybe there were some
members or whoever has to say something or wants to say something, who says
there should be a ban or whatever, but this is not the official attitude or
the official opinion of the International (Olympic) Committee," Waldner
told Reuters Television.
The IOC has said it will set up a disciplinary commission into the
affair.
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