IOC fines Austrian Olympic Committee $1m

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) fined the Austrian Olympic Committee $1 million yesterday over the Austrian athletes' doping affair at last year's Turin Winter Games.

The IOC said in a statement that the Austrian Olympic Committee was suspended "from receiving or applying for any grants or subsidies, whether direct or indirect, from the IOC in the amount of $1 million".

Austrian Olympic Committee president Leo Wallner claimed yesterday that his organisation had originally been threatened with expulsion from the next two Olympic Games.

"It was only due to the various efforts of the Austrian Olympic Committee, the national government and parliament that this possible expulsion was reduced into a considerable fine from the IOC," Wallner said.

Wallner said the IOC's demands would be the subject of an emergency meeting of the Austrian Olympic Committee's board with the aim of bringing further sanctions against the ski federation.

Among the measures proposed by Wallner yesterday were additional lifelong Olympic bans for the entire support staff of the Austrian cross-country and biathlon teams.

The Austrian Olympic Committee president said he would also demand that the ski federation paid the fine imposed by the IOC.

Italian police and doping testers raided the Austrian biathlon and cross-country skiing team headquarters in Turin after the appearance of a banned coach, and found blood bags and equipment used for blood doping.

While none of the athletes tested positive, the IOC last month banned six of them from competing in any future Olympics following violations of its anti-doping rules.

A subsequent decision by the Austrian skiing federation to include some of the banned athletes in squads for international competitions other than the Olympic Games further embarrassed the Austrian Olympic Committee and enraged the IOC.

The decision against the Austrians comes at a crucial time for the city of Salzburg, which is bidding to host the 2014 Winter Olympics. The IOC will decide the host on July 4. South Korea's Pyeongchang and Russia's Sochi are also in the running.