Austria lock horns with Olympic chiefs

With a doping scandal refusing to fade, Austrian officials locked horns with Olympic chiefs yesterday accusing them of punishing their team unnecessarily.

Austria were not the only team to be licking their wounds. The United States and Canada, two ice hockey giants, were pondering what exactly went wrong in the quarter-finals when they were unseated on Wednesday by Finland and Russia.

For Canada, the birthplace of the sport, the early exit was viewed with huge dismay while the American failure was yet another by US athletes at the Turin Games.

Austria, who have their best ever medal haul, have become increasingly frustrated over the doping saga which has stubbornly overshadowed their prowess in the Alps.

Austria have 19 medals, including eight golds, behind Germany who top the standings with 24 medals, nine of them gold. Russia pushed past the United States to take third place with 19 medals, including eight golds, after winning a biathlon relay yesterday.

"People are thinking about punishing us, even about banning us," Austrian Olympic Committee secretary general Heinz Jungwirth said, raising fears the team could be banned from future Olympics.

"There's a storm brewing at the IOC. Whether the doping tests are positive or negative doesn't matter," Jungwirth said. "There was equipment found that was clearly not allowed, including equipment for blood transfusions."

But officials in the Alps either denied or said they had no knowledge of the blood transfusion equipment, and lamented the fact that their athletes felt they were being smeared.

Markus Gandler, Austrian sports director for biathlon and cross-country skiing, said he knew nothing about the blood transfusion equipment.

He said he had been questioned as part of the Austrian Committee's internal investigation.

Olympic officials have yet to publish the results of doping tests on 10 Austrian athletes, taken during a night raid on Saturday. First, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said they would be released after 72 hours. That deadline passed.

"One would imagine that we would have the test results before the Games are over," IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said.

Davies denied tense ties with Austria. The Austrians have criticised officials for disrupting training schedules with the raids, triggered by a tip-off that a coach, banned from the Olympics over a blood doping affair four years ago, was meeting Austrian athletes.

The IOC said it would launch an investigation into why the Austrians snubbed the ban on coach Walter Mayer. He is now in a psychiatric hospital in Austria after crashing into police cars and, according to media, mentioning suicide.

After a disastrous night at the ice hockey rink when they lost to Russia 2-0, Canada took bronze in the women's curling competition, beating Norway in just eight ends. Sweden landed its fifth gold medal after edging Switzerland 7-6 in the final.

There was disappointment for Rosey Fletcher in snowboarding. The American slipped when leading, ending up third. Favourite Daniela Meuli grabbed Switzerland's third Olympic snowboarding gold. German Amelie Kober was second.

Shizuka Arakawa glided into the record books when she captured Japan's first figure skating gold medal at the Winter Olympics with victory in the women's event, knocking favourite Irina Slutskaya to third.

The Japanese skater surged from third after the short programme to leapfrog early pace setters Sasha Cohen and Slutskaya with a mesmerising free programme.

Her victory prevented Slutskaya's attempt to become the first Russian to win the discipline.