Lawyer for ex-Olympic ski coach files lawsuit against WADA chief

Lawyer for ex-Olympic ski coach files lawsuit against WADA chief{mosimage}VIENNA, Austria – Former Austrian ski coach Walter Mayer filed a defamation lawsuit Wednesday against the head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, claiming he was wrongly accused of blood doping at the Turin Olympics.

Mayer’s attorney, Herwig Hasslacher, told The Associated Press the suit against WADA chief Dick Pound was filed in Vienna District Court, and that a similar complaint against International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge would be filed on Thursday.

“We are very optimistic,” that the court will return a favorable verdict, Hasslacher said.

A court date was not immediately set.

Hasslacher said Pound claimed blood doping equipment had been recovered in raids on the Austrian cross-country and Nordic team’s quarters during the Olympics. The lawyer said the equipment was designed to help athletes remove the buildup of lactic acid, which the body generates during extreme physical activity.

Hasslacher said Rogge was being sued because he claimed that Mayer “organized” doping by the Austrians.

“This is not true,” he said.

Mayer, who was banned from the Olympics following allegations of blood doping at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City, traveled to Turin but fled after the raids. He later crashed his car into a police blockade just over the Austrian border and ended up in a psychiatric hospital.

The mayor of Salzburg, which is bidding to host the 2014 Winter Olympics, urged Mayer to drop the lawsuits, saying they detracted from the campaign.

“This is certainly not good for Salzburg’s Olympics application,” Mayor Heinz Schaden told Austrian television.

Salzburg is considered one of the favorites among seven cities bidding for those games. The host city will be selected in July 2007 at an IOC meeting in Guatemala City.