Absent Austrian biathletes in contact -ski head
Sun Feb 19, 2006 7:14 PM ET
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By Sophie Hardach
SESTRIERE, Italy (Reuters) - Two Austrian biathletes who suddenly left
the Olympic Games on Sunday have now been in contact with Austrian
sports officials, the head of the national ski federation said.
The two athletes quit the Sestriere venue in the Italian Alps the day
after Italian police raided the bases of the Austrian biathlon and
cross-country skiing athletes.
"Officially, they could have left on Sunday anyway. But they just went
off and we don't know why, and that's not acceptable," Peter
Schroecksnadel, president of the Austrian Ski Federation, told Reuters
in an interview.
"Maybe they were scared of the police, we don't know. They got in touch
and we're going to talk about it," he added.
He said he would listen to their reasons for leaving suddenly and then
decide whether to take any action.
Officials had said earlier the athletes, Wolfgang Perner and Wolfgang
Rottmann, had been free to leave because their competition was over.
Police swooped on the Austrian athletes late on Saturday after reports
that Austrian coach Walter Mayer paid visits to the team there despite
being banned from the Games.
Mayer returned home on Sunday but was detained by police after he
refused to take an alcohol breath test.
Schroecksnadel said he sacked Mayer as coach because the incident with
the police was unacceptable for someone supposed to be an example to
young people.
Mayer was banned from the Olympics for his involvement in a blood
transfusion scandal at the Salt Lake City Games in 2002.
"I could have prevented him from coming but I didn't. His team was
running and I can understand if he wanted to buy some tickets and be
there," Schroecksnadel sa