Austrian Biathlon Team Could Miss Vancouver Olympics

(ATR) The head of the Austrian Ski Federation says the top-ranked biathlon team could stay home from the Vancouver Olympics because of a spat with the Austrian Olympic Committee.

Ski federation President Peter Schrocksnadel is asking the Austrian NOC to drop a suspension from the Olympics for coaches and trainers implicated in the blood doping scandals of the Turin and Salt Lake City Games.

A police raid in Turin midway through the Games turned up evidence of blood doping at private living quarters where Austrian biathletes and cross country skiers were staying. Blood doping paraphernalia was also uncovered after the Salt Lake City Olympics in a house rented for the Austrian team.

As part of sanctions levied by the IOC in 2007, the Austrian NOC banned coaches and trainers from the Vancouver Olympics.

But with the Austrian biathlon team ranked first in the world this season and considered a favorite for a medal at the 2010 Games, Schrocksnadel is pushing the AOC to drop its suspension of team officials.

Unless the Austrian committee relents, Schrocksnadel says he won't enter a biathlon team for Vancouver.

"We won't send a biathlon team to the Olympics 2010 in Vancouver. It is not allowed for us to send support personnel," Schrocksnadel complained in a TV interview last week.

Schrocksnadel's interview could be a move to put public pressure on the Austrian committee, which will elect leadership for the next four years on Feb. 13.

A press release from the AOC notes that nomination of the teams for Vancouver is still months away and that the federations have the right to propose who should compete. But the release from the Austrian Olympic Committee says it has no formal communication from the ski federation rejecting a team for Vancouver.

Written by Ed Hula.