By DPA
Lausanne (Switzerland) : The Austrian Olympic Committee (OeOC) was Thursday fined 1 million dollars (740,000 euros) by the International Olympic Committee over a doping scheme at the Turin Games last year.
The IOC said in a statement that the OeOC must also inform the IOC by a June 30, 2008 deadline of changes made in its structures after the 2006 scandal.
"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 IOC said.
OeOC president Leo Wallner said in a statement that the main party to blame was the nation's ski federation OeSV and that the affair almost led to the expulsion of Austria from the next two Olympics.
"The OeSV thereby almost caused the ban of the OeOC – with all Austrian athletes – from the upcoming Olympic Summer Games in 2008 and the Winter Games in 2010," Wallner said.
In an unprecedented move, the IOC last month banned six athletes for life from the Olympics after raids by Italian police on the cross-country and biathlon team quarters brought evidence of prohibited substances and methods, suggesting organized doping.
Of those, cross-country skiers Johannes Eder, Juergen Pinter, Martin Tauber and Roland Diethart have appealed before the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The other athletes, biathletes Wolfgang Rottmann and Wolfgang Perner, have retired and won't appeal.
The raids came after revelations of the presence of a coach, Walter Mayer, at the team even though he was banned from the Games after a blood bag affair at the 2002 Games.
The IOC said the OeOC had learnt nothing from the 2002 incident.
"It is clear that OeOC failed to implement appropriate organisational changes in the aftermath of the Salt Lake City 'Blood Bag Affair' in an effort to avoid similar violations being committed in Torino," said the IOC.
Wallner said: "As the Austrian ski association (OeSV) did not draw significant consequences from the events in Salt Lake City in 2002, the Olympic Spirit, the basic principle of fairness, the Olympic Charter, anti-doping regulations by WADA, the IOC, FIS and OeOC have been severely violated, partly by the same persons responsible."
He stressed that because of various measures by the OeOC, the Austria's parliament passing new legal regulations since Turin 2006 it had been possible to convert the ban – which had been a legal possibility since 2002 – into a substantial fine.
News reports in Austria suggested that the OeOC must sack OeSV president Peter Schroecksnadel as its vice-president.
Wallner said that The OeOC would further deal with the matter in an emergency meeting on May 29.