WEDNESDAY. FEBRUARY 22. 2006
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 3B
OLYMPICS
Austrians change tune about inquiry
Peter Schroeksnadel, the President of the Austrian Ski Federation, left, and Markus Gandler, chief of the Austrian Cross Country skiing team, pause during a press conference at the Austria House in Sestrione, Italy, Tuesday. Austrian officials held a press conference Tuesday after Italian investigators paid a return visit to the Austrian ski team targeted in anti-doping raids at the Winter Olympics, prompting the head of the nation's ski federation to angrily call for authorities to produce evidence to justify the continuing scrutiny.
Luca Bruno/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Team switches focus of anger from investigators to coach
BY ARIEL DAVID
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
TURIN, Italy — Faced with mounting evidence that a disgraced ski coach may have brought a major doping scandal upon them, Austrian officials softened their indignation over surprise raids on athletes' quarters Tuesday — and showed signs of accepting that something could be wrong.
More clouds gathered as the day wore on:
Two athletes confessed to a team official that they "may have used illegal methods" at the Turin Games. It was revealed that evidence seized in a surprise sweep over the weekend included about 100 syringes, unlabeled drugs and a blood transfusion machine.
And when investigators went to the living quarters of banned Austrian ski coach Walter Mayer — whose presence at the Olympics triggered an unprecedented investigation — even more syringes were found.
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, IOC member and government supervisor for the games.
On Tuesday morning, Austrian ski federation president Peter Schroecskadelw was incensed by the scrutiny from the World Anti-Doping Agency, the International Olympic Committee and the Carbinieri paramilitary police, saying the investigation was "no longer about sport, it's just about rumors."
By evening, Schroecksnadel offered that it was "a mistake" to ever have allowed Mayer at the Turin Games.
He also said two athletes who bolted the games after the raids had confessed to a team official that they "may have used illegal methods."
Wolfgang Perner and Wolfgang Rottmann, since kicked off the team for leaving the games early, made the statement to the team's sports director, Markus Gandler, Schroecksnadel said at a press conference in the Alpine
village of Sestriere.
Schroecksnadel would not elaborate on the athletes' comments, but said the federation was setting up a commission to investigate.
In a series of raids conducted late Saturday on team housing in Pragelato and nearby San Sicario, police seized about 100 syringes, unlabeled medicine bottles, boxes of prescription drugs and a blood-transfusion machine, a person with direct knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press on Tuesday. The source asked not to be identified because the investigation was ongoing.
Blood doping transfusions can be used to oxygenate the blood before competition, which increases endurance. The source said, however, that no blood was found along with the device. Prescription drugs seized in the raid carried warning labels saying they contained banned substances, but the source said at least some members of the team had prescriptions for those.
The seized materials were still being analyzed by Italian authorities, but no test results were announced as of Tuesday.
Six skiers and four biathletes were also taken for drug screens by the IOC as a part of the raid, and the IOC had not yet announced results of those tests.
Five-time Olympian Ludwig Gredler, a member of Austria's biathlon team, said the team has no choice but submit to the searches.
"These are the laws of Italy and we have to follow them," he said. "Team Austria is a small group and we live in close proximity to each other but naturally I can't know what happens in other rooms. I know I'm clean and have taken nothing, but I can't speak for my teammates."
Mayer, banned from the Olympics for links to blood doping in 2002 in Salt Lake City, fled the Turin area and headed for Austria sometime after the Saturday raids. He resurfaced the next night, when he crashed his car into a police blockade just 15 miles inside his native country's border with Italy, some 250 miles from Turin.
Schroecksnadel said police
took him to a psychiatric facility, where he was staying because it was feared he might commit suicide. Mayer appeared Tuesday in an Austrian court, where he pleaded guilty to charges of civil disorder, assault and damage to property.
Though Mayer had been in Italy coaching the team in a private capacity, IOC medical commission chief Arne Ljungvig said his presence — while not breaking any rules — had violated the "spirit" of his Olympic ban.
The investigation was touched off when World Anti-Doping Agency officers learned that Mayer was with the Austrian team at the Olympics. WADA told the IOC of Mayer's presence, which in turn tipped off Italian police.
Saturday's raids, the first ever by police on athletes at the Olympics, came against the backdrop of the most stringent drug controls in Winter Games history. Only one athlete, Russian biathlon star Olga Pyleva, has been thrown out of the games for doping so far.
Mayer was banned from the Turin Games and the 2010 Games in Vancouver after blood transfusion materials were found at the Salt Lake City Games. The Austrians claimed it was used for ultraviolet radiation treatment
of blood to treat and prevent colds and flu.
Since Saturday's raids, the shaken Austrian team has rallied to win six medals — four of them gold.
Intramural
CONTINUITY FROM PAGE 18
In the first half, the Big N Tastys' offense relied heavily on feeding Frank Masterson, Shawnee senior.
Masterson received several passes in the paint, enabling him to go up strong to the basket and force opposing fouls.
He shot 4-for-7 from the free-throw line, and scored 14 points.
— Edited by Kathryn Anderson
NASCAR
"Our first game was a lot like this and we lost by a point," Cooley said. "So it was nice to win this one."
Bank of America Corp sponsors speedways
CHARLOTTE, N.C. Bank of America Corp. said Tuesday that it has reached a five-year agreement with International Speedway Corp. to sponsor four race tracks, including California Speedway near Los Angeles.
It's the latest of several recent high-profile deals involving NASCAR and the nation's second-largest bank.
"Joining the ISC family enables us to expand the ways in which we can reach a significant base of racing fans among our customers, and is further proof of our commitment to the sport as a central part of our marketing strategy," said Rick Parsons, executive vice president for brand marketing at Bank of America.
Financial terms of the latest sponsorship deal, which also includes tracks in Kansas City, Mo.; Avondale, Ariz.; and Watkins Glen, N.Y., were not disclosed.
"We look forward to working with Bank of America to develop at-track marketing programs to effectively complement their overall motorsports platform," said ISC President Lesa France Kennedy.
In return for its financial support, Bank of America wins the right to place advertisements and ATMs at each of the four tracks a. well as entertainment space and other promotional rights.
The Associated Press
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