Walter Mayer (cross-country skier)

Walter Mayer (born March 17, 1957 in Hüttau ) is a former Austrian cross-country skier and cross-country trainer. He celebrated his greatest success as an active athlete on March 2, 1980 with the Wasalauf victory. At the Wasalauf 1992 he reached second place. His coaching career was overshadowed by multiple doping scandals.

Career

After his active career, he coached the Austrian cross-country team. From 1996 to 1999, in his role as head trainer, he led the Austrian cross-country skiers to the top international, who achieved their greatest success by winning the relay gold medal at the 1999 Nordic World Ski Championships in Ramsau am Dachstein . During his tenure as head trainer, Markus Gandler and Christian Hoffmann won several medals at the home world championship, as well as Austria’s first cross-country Olympic medals in 1998 in Nagano .

Salt Lake City blood bag affair 2002

After the departure of the Austrian athletes from Salt Lake City , several syringes and blood bags were found in the home of the Austrian cross-country skiers , which led to suspicion of doping. It was suspected that autologous blood was taken, irradiated with UV light and then returned to the athlete. However, this could not be proven. However, the actual effect of this treatment method is doubtful. The two cross-country skiers Achim Walcher and Mayer's son Marc were subsequently disqualified due to this suspicion, whereby all results achieved by these two athletes were removed from the rating. This so-called "blood bag affair" resulted in Walter Mayer being excluded from the Olympic Games for life. However, after a protest by Mayer, the ban was reduced and pronounced until 2010.

Walter Mayer was banned from the FIS for life. However, Walter Mayer took legal action against this ban at the Innsbruck Labor Court after the FIS had exhausted its proceedings. In 2004 Mayer was able to go back to his job as a trainer at the ÖSV after a preliminary injunction was granted. In the first instance, the FIS ban was lifted by the court in 2006. However, the FIS has appealed against this civil judgment, the proceedings in question are still ongoing.

In 2002 the FIS doping regulations were not as strict as those of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Therefore, in contrast to today, autologous blood treatment was forbidden at IOC events, but was still allowed in FIS competitions in 2002.

Doping Control Turin 2006

The Austrian Ski Association under President Peter Schröcksnadel continued to hold on to Mayer, who was allowed to continue working as sporting director for cross-country skiing and advisor for biathlon in the ÖSV until 19 February 2006 . Walter Mayer was also the alleged trigger for a doping control that took place under massive Italian police action in the house of the Austrian cross-country skiers and biathletes at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Pragelato on February 18 . The Turin prosecutor Raffaele Guariniello said that more than 100 syringes, 30 boxes of medicines and various devices for blood tests and transfusions were found in the raid . The night after the search, the two Austrian biathletes Wolfgang Perner and Wolfgang Rottmann from Italy left. To date, however, the Italian public prosecutor has not brought charges. For Walter Mayer and all suspects, the presumption of innocence applies.

Despite the ban, Walter Mayer stayed in the team's accommodation and stayed there. The next day he tried to avoid a traffic control in Carinthia at the wheel of an ÖSV car . While trying to break through a roadblock, he caused an accident and was slightly injured. Mayer was charged with resisting state power, various traffic offenses and driving a vehicle while drunk. ÖSV President Peter Schröcksnadel then dismissed Mayer without notice. However, the criminal proceedings against Walter Mayer were discontinued in January 2007 after experts found Mayer to be inconsistent at the time of the offense.

Since Walter Mayer saw himself prejudiced by statements by IOC President Jacques Rogge in the media and the public, Mayer brought an action against the IOC President for defamation and damage to his reputation, but withdrew his lawsuit in early February 2007.

At relatively short notice, after Mayer publicly criticized the Austrian Defense Minister Darabos , who was responsible for sports , he was arrested on March 22, 2009 almost at the same time as a pharmacist. Mayer was arrested on March 25, 2009, the reasons given were the risk of obscuration and the risk of a crime. They are accused of having traded the doping agents erythropoietin and testosterone on a large scale . On April 30, 2009, Mayer was unexpectedly released from custody.

On April 29, 2010, there was an uproar when Mayer's partner, the marathon runner Eva-Maria Gradwohl , was visited by inspectors from the National Anti-Doping Agency Austria (NADA) while the couple was on holiday together in Croatia , and Mayer initially insulted them before Gradwohl refused the scheduled doping test . On May 6th, Mayer apologized for his behavior and certified that the NADA emissaries had behaved correctly.

2011 doping trial

In February 2011, the Vienna Public Prosecutor filed criminal charges against Mayer and four co-defendants for numerous violations of the Austrian Anti- Doping Act. On August 17, 2011, Mayer was sentenced to fifteen months in prison at the Vienna Regional Criminal Court, of which (initially) twelve months were conditional. Three of the co-defendants were sentenced to parole and accepted the verdicts, and one was acquitted. The Vienna Higher Regional Court rejected Mayer's appeal for nullity against his conviction, but the (initially) unconditional part of the sentence of three months was also conditionally examined. On July 6, 2012, Mayer and President Peter Schröcksnadel were acquitted of the doping allegations raised in a court in Susa, Italy.

From 2006 to 2012, the former Austrian long-distance runner Eva-Maria Gradwohl was his partner.

"Operation Bloodletting" 2019

In January 2020, following the investigation into the doping raid ( "Operation Aderlass" ) carried out at the Nordic World Ski Championships in 2019 , another complaint was made for doping offenses and for contributing to sports fraud. In July 2020, Mayer was sentenced to 15 months in prison.

Activities in the ÖSV

• before 1992: Member of the wax team for the 1991 World Cup and the 1992 Olympic Games.
• 1992 to 1993: junior trainer
• 1994 to 1996: Trainer men cross-country skiing
• 1996 to 1999: Head coach cross-country skiing
• 1999 to 2003: Racing director for cross-country skiing & biathlon
• 2004 to 2006: Sports director cross-country skiing

Awards (excerpt)

• 2001: Silver Medal of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria

Web links

• Literature by and about Walter Mayer in the catalog of the German National Library
• Chronology of Walter Mayer's career ( Memento from April 10, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), Kleine Zeitung March 23, 2009

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ORF : biathlon trainer raced into police lockdown . February 20, 2006
2. ^ ORF : Alko rampage in Carinthia has no consequences . January 24, 2007
3. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung : Doping affair - ski trainer Walter Mayer arrested ( Memento of the original from March 27, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . March 23, 2009
4. ↑ news.at: Mayer surprisingly released from custody: ex-trainer of the ÖSV under suspicion of doping . April 30, 2009.
5. ↑ ORF : Gradwohl-Freund flinched ( memento of the original from May 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . May 4, 2010
6. ↑ ORF : “Controllers were correct” ( Memento of the original from May 9, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . May 6, 2010
7. ^ ORF: Walter Mayer legally binding doping offender. April 11, 2013, accessed March 11, 2019 . 
8. ^ ORF : "Conditional penalties for trio" . July 6, 2012
9. ↑ Doping: Ex-ÖSV trainer Walter Mayer is accused again (January 24, 2020)
10. ↑ 15 months conditional imprisonment for ex-ÖSV trainer Walter Mayer