The scandal surrounding a disgraced Austrian ski coach deepened yesterday as team officials said two Olympic athletes may have engaged in “illegal methods” and potentially damaging new details emerged about what was seized in a surprise raid on the team's living quarters.
The saga unfolded as Austrian ski officials faced mounting evidence that banned ski coach Walter Mayer may have brought a major doping scandal upon them.
It was revealed that evidence seized in the weekend raids included unlabeled drugs, a blood transfusion machine and dozens of syringes, including some in Mayer's residence.
And Austrian ski federation President Peter Schroecksnadel said that two athletes who bolted the Games after the raids had confessed to a team official that they “may have used illegal methods.” He did not elaborate but said the federation was setting up a commission to investigate. The two were Wolfgang Perner and Wolfgang Rottmann.
Schroecksnadel also acknowledged that it was “a mistake” for the team to ever have allowed Mayer to coach in a private capacity at the Turin Games, which are taking place against the backdrop of the most rigorous drug controls in Winter Olympic history.
Meanwhile, IOC President Jacques Rogge said the IOC will set up a disciplinary commission, probably after the Games, to investigate the doping suspicions.
The unprecedented investigation was triggered when Olympic officials learned that Mayer was at the Games. He was banned from the Olympics for links to blood doping in 2002 in Salt Lake City.
After the initial weekend raids, investigators returned to Mayer's quarters and found more syringes. An Italian prosecutor found the additional evidence Monday night when he inspected the private home that Mayer had rented for the Olympics in the mountain hamlet of Pragelato, said Mario Pescante, an IOC member and government supervisor for the Games.
Curling: U.S. vs. Canada
No sooner had Canada beaten the U.S. in the final game of the Olympic men's curling round-robin than the teams started preparing to meet again.
The North American neighbors will play today in the medal round of the Turin Games, with the winner guaranteed at least a silver medal. The loser plays the loser of the other semifinal between Britain (6-3) and Finland (7-2) for the bronze.
The sport has a small niche in the United States, where it's headquartered in Bemidji, Minn., and moves north from there. A medal in Turin would be a first for American curling and, the players hope, a boost for their game in their homeland.
On the other hand, more than a million Canadians play the sport – an estimated 94 percent of the world's curlers – and they have brought home 29 world championships.
