The Austrian Ski Federation gave lifetime bans to two biathletes and two coaches who engaged in blood doping at last year's Torino Olympics.

VIENNA, Austria —The Austrian Ski Federation gave lifetime bans to two biathletes and two coaches who engaged in blood doping at last year's Torino Olympics.
    Retired biathletes Wolfgang Perner and Wolfgang Rottmann, and former coaches Emil Hoch and Walter Mayer will lose their federation membership and will not be able to participate in any federation events in any capacity.
    Monday's decision came four days after the federation's disciplinary commission confirmed in its final report on the affair that Perner and Rottmann engaged in blood doping in Torino, and that Mayer and Hoch were also involved.
    In April, Perner and Rottmann were banned for life by the International Olympic Committee. Rottmann has always denied doping.
    ''I have never engaged in blood doping,'' Rottmann told the Austria Press Agency.
    Perner said that ''blood doping is not traceable,'' but declined further comment.
    Also, the disciplinary commission concluded that four Austrian cross-country skiers who also received lifetime bans by the IOC did not engage in the blood doping.
    The report says that Christoph Sumann, Daniel Mesotitsch, Ludwig Gredler and Juergen Pinter were not aware of and did not take part in any doping practices in the Austrian camp at the 2006 Olympics.
    The cross-country skiers have always pleaded not guilty and declined to comment on the outcome of the report as they have appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to have their bans overturned.
    The disciplinary commission will send its report to both the IOC and the anti-doping commission of the International Ski Federation.
    Italian police raided Austrian team lodgings outside Torino on Feb. 18, 2006, seizing a large amount of doping products and equipment. The move followed a tip that Mayer was in the area. He fled Italy and crashed his car into a police roadblock across the Austrian border.
    In tandem with the police action, Olympic drug-testers conducted surprise doping checks on 10 Austrian athletes. The tests came back negative, but the IOC continued its investigation based on the police findings.
    The Italian report, handed over to the IOC early this year, said police found syringes, needles, blood bags, butterfly valves for intravenous use, bottles of saline and devices for measuring hemoglobin levels and determining blood groups, as well as the banned substances hCG and albumin.
    In May, the Austrian Olympic Committee imposed lifetime Olympic bans on 14 team officials linked to the scandal in Torino.

    — The Associated Press