IOC rebuffs protests over drug raid

Olympic chiefs stood firm against a barrage of Austrian complaints yesterday following night raids by police and dope tests on Austrian athletes at the Winter Games.

The International Olympic Committee had no sympathy for the Austrians after coach Walter Mayer, banned from the Olympics over a blood doping case four years ago, had visited the team, prompting the raids on their biathlon and cross-country bases.

"That he was in the same area (as the athletes) created quite some concern for us," the IOC's medical commission chief Arne Ljungqvist said.

Holding up an official postcard featuring a photograph of the Austrian biathlon team which included Mayer, Ljungqvist said: "This is reason enough to act."

Ljungqvist acknowledged that Mayer, who had not been accredited for the Games, was not violating a ban imposed on him which runs up to and includes the 2010 Winter Games but that he had violated the Olympic spirit.

"It is against the spirit of that decision."

But the Austrian team would not be mollified.

"We have protested against the way the controls were done," Austrian Olympic Committee Secretary General Heinz Jungwirth told Reuters.

"I personally spoke to the president (Jacques Rogge) of the IOC this morning."

Austrian State Secretary for Sports Karl Schweitzer told Reuters: "It seems the methods used were totally incomprehensible and really inappropriate.

"The whole thing was badly handled. Our athletes were treated like serious criminals," he said in a telephone interview.

"The main issue for us is that our sportsmen were wrongly disturbed while preparing for a race that was held today, which makes it easy to explain why we finished last.

"How can the IOC guarantee fair competition when doping controls resort to methods like this?

"Of course, we stand 100 per cent behind efforts to fight doping. But these methods must be rejected."

Austria's athletes, left sleepless and demoralised, failed in the men's cross-country relay yesterday.

The Austrians' third skier Roland Diethart was lapped by the leader and in accordance with the rules the team had to drop out of the race, meaning their fourth runner, Johannes Eder, did not start.

"I didn't even get to race. With 20 policemen standing in your bedroom in the middle of the night, how can you compete?" Eder told Reuters as he walked away from the course.

"The mood is down. Everybody's feeling down because of yesterday, it was crazy," Austrian ski federation spokesman Erich Wagner said before the race which was won by an Italian quartet.

It was Italy's first cross-country gold of the Games, giving them three in total.

Pietro Piller Cottrer set up their victory with a fine third leg in driving snow in the Italian Alps before Cristian Zorzi guided them home in front of thousands of jubilant home fans waving red, white and green tricolours.

Germany, 15 seconds behind, took the silver just 0.3 seconds ahead of Sweden.

Defending Olympic and world champions Norway trailed in fifth to compound their dismal performances in cross-country at these Olympics. They are still awaiting their first gold medal in either the men's or women's events.

The gold medal sparked wild celebrations in Pragelato, 80 kms west of Turin.

Their margin of victory was so wide that when Zorzi entered the stadium he had time to skate over to the stands and grab a flag from a fan.

Poor visibility

While tempers ran high among the Austrians, poor visibility and falling snow played havoc with the Alpine schedule.

The women's Alpine skiing super-G race was postponed until today.

Alpine skiing events at the Games have been disrupted by bad weather for the last two days.

The women's combined event was extended over two days after racers were unable to start the downhill on Friday and the men's super-G in nearby Sestriere was restarted on Saturday afternoon after 17 racers had set out in steadily deteriorating conditions in the morning.

The bad weather, however, could be good news for Janica Kostelic.

Kostelic, who on Saturday became the first female Alpine skier to win four Olympic golds, had said she was too sick to race yesterday after suffering a high pulse rate and a fever.

With the super-G now postponed, Kostelic has an extra day to recover and could decide to race if her health improves.

Speedskating (women's 1,000m): 1. M. Timmer (Holland); 2. C. Klassen (Canada); 3. A. Friesinger (Germany).

Bobsleigh (two-man): 1. Germany; 2. Canada; 3. Switzerland.