10. Austrians Juicing Up
What happens when a group of Austrian Nordic skiers decides to partake in systematic doping? They get banned from the Olympics for life. That’s exactly what happened to 6 athletes from the Austrian camp during the winter Olympics in Turin, 2006. Italian police found ample evidence to testify to Austrian’s systematic drug abuse after storming their rooms. Blood packs, syringes, hemoglobin meter and other accompanying equipment were evidence enough that Austrian skiers were involved in blood transfusion doping. Of course, the discovery wouldn’t be possible without the presence of Walter Mayer – Austrian team’s head coach who was banned from the games already for his involvement in seemingly identical doping case during the games in Salt Lake City, 2002. An icing on the cake – Mayer managed to escape the police initially, only to crash his car into the roadblock. Apart from being relieved of his duties within the Austrian team, he was also sent to the psych ward for his suicidal tendencies.
