Austrian coach Walter Mayer created an uproar in the Austrian press when he disappeared from the Turin Games after a doping raid on the Austrian Team.
Mayer was banned from the Olympics by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) following a blood-doping case at the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Games, where he was alleged to have performed blood transfusions. The World Anti-Doping Agency learned that Mayer was with the Austrian team at the Turin Games and notified the IOC who informed the Italian police. Austrian officials said Mayer had been in Italy in a private capacity and had no official connection with the team, reports TSN.
The Kurier newspaper said, “naming Mayer as director of the Nordic disciplines at the Austrian skiing federation was provocative, pure and simple”.
“Was it really necessary for an officially declared persona non-grata like Walter Mayer to appear at the Games”, reported the Kronen Zeitung. Did he have to spend the evening with the athletes and give interviews in which he clearly gave the impression that he was still their patron”.
A spokesman for the Russian Olympic Committee said Monday that a conflict was brewing between the Russian Olympic team and its official sponsor Bosco, the company that provided its uniforms.
The RIA-Novosti news agency quoted Gennady Shvets, press-attache of the Russian Olympic Committee, as saying that his committee was planning to “sort out the relation’s with the company, after some Russian media circulated unconfirmed reports that Bosco had presented the Russian team with a claim of about one million dollars for violating its liabilities in presenting Bosco’s logo on their clothes.
According to Mosnews.com the Russian media had earlier reported that Bosco’s aggressive marketing raised questions in the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Russian team was told not to wear garments with sponsors’ logos at official events to comply with the rules of the Games.
Bosco denied the reports and there was no comment from the IOC or the Russian Olympic Committee.
Meanwhile columnists in several Canadian newspapers are having a field day with Canada’s men’s hockey team’s two “disastrous” defeats against Finland and Switzerland.
The headline in the Ottawa Sun says “It’s Time For Team Canada To Wake Up”, a comment attributed to coach Pat Quinn; “Canada’s Offensive Woes Continue” writes the Globe and Mail; “Team Canada Fires Blanks” from the Toronto Sun; and a front page story in the Toronto Star headline in bright red letters screams “What’s Wrong With Team Canada?”
It’s the first time Canada has been shut out twice in a row at the Olympic Games since 1984 before the full participation of National Hockey League players.
