Former Austrian ski coach given jail sentence
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VIENNA (Reuters) - Former Austrian skiing coach Walter Mayer has been given a prison sentence after being found guilty of supplying doping substances to athletes, a court official said Thursday.
Mayer was sentenced to 15 months in jail, with 12 months of that sentence suspended for a period of three years. Of the remaining three months, he has also already served several weeks in custody following his arrest.
The 54-year-old, who had pleaded not guilty, was freed pending an appeal following the sentence Wednesday evening, the official told Reuters.
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Mayer was banned by the International Olympic Committee from attending the Turin Games and the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver after being implicated in a blood transfusion scandal at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.
The coach's presence prompted the IOC to launch coordinated night-time raids with the Italian police on the hotels of the Austrian cross-country and biathlon teams.
Ten Austrian athletes were tested for possible signs of doping but were found to be clean.
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Mayer crashed his car into a police road-block near the Italian-Austrian border having left Turin on the day of the raids.
Since 2008, Austria has introduced several acts which make the provision of doping substances a criminal offence, making Mayer liable to prosecution.
(Reporting by Brian Homewood; Editing by Ossian Shine)