Former Austria coach Walter Mayer, who was at the centre of the Turin Games doping row last year, has dropped legal action against International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge and Dick Pound, head of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and an IOC member, reports Agence France-Presse.
IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said, “we were told the case is dropped and the president is no longer requested to go to a hearing”.
Mayer fled Italy and the Olympic Games last year after the first of two Italian police drug raids on the Austrian biathlon and cross-country teams there. He was then fired as coach, arrested in Austria, and charged with a number of offences including drunk driving, reports Agence France-Presse.
He later launched a libel suit in Austria against Rogge and Pound, who had accused him of personally being involved in doping.
On hearing the news Rogge said, “I have no particular reaction other than I will change my agenda because I was due and ready to go to court on March 9 in Vienna, so I will be able to do something else on the same day”.
In a statement Mayer said, “I want to turn the page and build a new life”.
Gernot Leitner, Executive Director of Salzburg 2014 said, “the decision of Walter Mayer is certain to exert a calming influence, both nationally and internationally. Whilst some parties tried to establish a link between the Salzburg bid and the Mayer case, the fact is that there was never the slightest connection between Salzburg 2014 and the “Walter Mayer Affair”.
“The Olympic Family was always perfectly aware that there was no link whatsoever between Salzburg 2014 and the whole story. Also the bidding teams of Sochi, Russia and PyeongChang, Korea always treated this matter in a very fair and correct way. We would like to thank them for this Olympic attitude”.
