Austrian coach crashes roadblock
Another Follow up ==> to my second post HERE …
Tags: Biathlon, In_The_NewsLast Updated: Sun Feb 19 19:58:21 EST 2006
CBC SportsWalter Mayer, the man whose appearance at the Torino Winter Olympic Games set off a raid by Italian police on the Austrian nordic ski team, has been taken into custody by Italian police after he allegedly took them on a chase through the mountains that ended with a crash into a police barrier.
Italian police took Mayer into protective custody after he allegedly tried to run a one-car road block while heading for the Austrian border.
Police earlier in the evening had approached a car in which a man was sleeping. The occupant, identified as Mayer by authorities, drove off, hitting and slightly injuring an officer, and authorities gave chase.
Mayer, himself, was reported to be slightly injured in the later incident, in which a car rammed an unoccupied police cruiser set up to block a road in the town of Paternion, in the province of Carinthia, about 24 kilometres from the Italian frontier, and 400 km from Turin.
He refused to take a sobriety test requested by the officers.
It was not known on Sunday evening if Mayer would face charges, or if a search was done of the vehicle. His license was provisionally suspended.
He was apparently returning to his home country, some hours after Italian authorities had launched their raid on the Austrian biathlon and cross-country team quarters, looking for banned substances and equipment.
Italian authorities said they had seized blood analysis equipment, as well as syringes, vials of distilled water, asthma medication and other substances, according to ANSA, the Italian news agency.
ANSA also reported that one athlete had thrown a bag out of a window of the residence during the raid that contained needles and medicines.
Mayer had been living in a house next door to the Austrian team’s residence in the hamlet of San Sicario, said CBC News, on Sunday night. A BBC News report also said that Austrian officials had admitted Mayer was staying with the group.
Meanwhile, the Austrian Ski Federation said Sunday night it had ended its relationship with Mayer, giving the accident as the reason.
There was no indication as to why the Austrian federation had any kind of relationship in the first place with Mayer, who was on the the international ski federation’s (FIS) banned list to 2015, and had been banned from the Torino and Vancouver 2010 Games by the IOC.
With files from Associated Press
[Source]
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POSTED IN: Olympic News
2 opinions for Austrian coach crashes roadblock
HART
Feb 20, 2006 at 4:15 am
Does the phrase .. “Mary Hartman! Mary Hartman!” ring a bell?
Light the Torch » Austrians admit to ‘illegal methods’
Feb 23, 2006 at 4:18 pm
[…] Follow up #4 to a previous post .. The president of the Austrian ski federation revealed that two athletes “may have used illegal methods” at the Torino Olympic Winter Games. […]
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