SKIING NEWS ITEM

IOC sanctions Austrian Olympic committee

WEDNESDAY, 30 MAY 2007

The Executive Board (EB) of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) today unanimously decided to suspend the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Austria from receiving or applying for any grants or subsidies, whether direct or indirect, from the IOC in the amount of USD 1,000,000. (The full details of the decision are available on www.olympic.org).

The EB also ordered the NOC of Austria to demonstrate, no later than 30 June 2008, the results of its investigation into this matter and the internal organisational changes that have been implemented.

The EB based its decision upon the recommendations of the Disciplinary Commission (DC) set up by the IOC in February 2006 and composed of Thomas Bach (Chairman), Denis Oswald and Sergey Bubka. These recommendations were made following the second round of hearings held by the Commission on 1 and 2 May. The EB did not meet, but decided via a postal vote.

Last month, the first series of recommendations made by the DC led the EB to declare permanently ineligible for all future Olympic Games six athletes from the Austrian biathlon and cross-country skiing teams who competed at the Turin Games.

The DC will continue its inquiries, in conjunction with the Italian authorities, in order to determine the full parameters of what has been confirmed as collusion, as well as the level of involvement of other persons.

This is not the first time that the IOC EB has imposed a financial penalty on an NOC in conjunction with the violation of anti-doping rules. During the Games in Salt Lake City in 2002, a financial sanction was imposed on the NOC of Belarus for allowing an athlete to leave the Olympic Village after she had been summoned to an unannounced out-of-competition doping control.

The IOC will invest the USD 1,000,000 in actions related to the fight against doping.

VIsit www.olympic.org for more details about this news story.

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