IOC comes down hard on Austrian skiers from winter games

Six skiers and biathletes received lifetime bans for their involvement.
BEIJING (AP) -- It took more than a year to punish anyone in the doping scandal that shook the Turin Winter Olympics. When the verdicts came down Wednesday, the penalties were unprecedented.
Six Austrian cross-country skiers and biathletes received lifetime bans from the Olympics for involvement in an organized blood-doping scheme -- the harshest sanctions given to athletes by the International Olympic Committee.
And the case isn't closed yet. Next month, the IOC will investigate the role of Austrian coaches, officials and doctors.
It's the first time the IOC has disqualified athletes for doping violations without positive tests, and the first time athletes have been banned by the IOC for life. Based on evidence seized in Italian police raids, the Austrians were found guilty of possessing prohibited substances and taking part in a doping conspiracy.
"It is a milestone," IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said.
None won medals
The results of the Austrian athletes from the 2006 Games were annulled, although none won medals.
Those banned were cross-country skiers Martin Tauber, Juergen Pinter, Johannes Eder and Roland Diethart, and biathletes Wolfgang Perner and Wolfgang Rottmann. The six are ineligible for accreditation in any capacity at the Olympics -- as athletes, coaches or officials.
"The severity of the sanctions is motivated by the fact that these cases go further than straightforward possession of prohibited substances and methods and are clear instances where a network, including athletes, colluded to manipulate blood and to engage into doping practices," the IOC said.
The IOC action applies only to Olympic competition. It would be up to the Austrian and international ski federations to suspend the athletes from non-Olympic events.
IOC vice president Thomas Bach, a German lawyer who led the internal investigation, said the probe will continue with hearings for non-athletes next month. He did not identify them. The IOC can also ban coaches and other accredited team personnel from the Olympics.
Endorsed Youth Olympics
Also Wednesday, the IOC executive board endorsed president Jacques Rogge's proposal for a Youth Olympics starting in 2010 for athletes aged 14-18, and reiterated that the IOC won't pressure China on human rights or other political issues ahead of the 2008 Beijing Games. The three cities vying for the 2014 Winter Games -- Pyeongchang, South Korea; Salzburg, Austria; and Sochi, Russia -- made public presentations with less than three months before the IOC vote.
Italian police raided Austrian team lodgings outside Turin on Feb. 18, 2006. The move followed a tip that former Austrian coach Walter Mayer, who was implicated in a blood-doping case at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games and banned from the Turin Olympics, was in the area.
Mayer fled after the raid. He crashed his car into a police roadblock after crossing into Austria, ending up briefly in a psychiatric hospital.
In tandem with the police action, Olympic drug-testers conducted surprise doping checks on 10 Austrian athletes. The tests came back negative, but the IOC said it would continue its investigation based on the police findings.
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