Italian police raided the Austrian biathlon team, casting a shadow over a super Saturday that had seen two stirring performances on the slopes and a landmark gold won by a black American skater.
The evening raid centred on the private quarters of the Austrian team, with the police looking for drugs after a tip-off from the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The search was ordered after the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) reported that Walter Mayer, banned for life by the International Ski Federation after being caught in Salt Lake City involved in blood doping, may be helping the Austrian athletes at Turin.
”The IOC has acted on information it received in a report given to it by the World Anti-Doping Agency which indicates the possible presence of Mr Walter Mayer in the private accommodation of the Austrian biathlon and cross-country teams,” said the IOC in a statement released early on Sunday.
”Given that Mr Mayer has been declared ineligible to participate in all Olympic Games up to and including Vancouver 2010, based on his involvement in blood-manipulation offences committed in Salt Lake City 2002, the IOC is fulfilling its responsibility to conduct anti-doping controls on athletes who might have been under his influence.”
The IOC confirmed that unannounced out-of-competition doping tests were carried out on a number of cross-country and biathlon athletes.
The drama at the end of the day pushed the medal chase to the sidelines.
Norway’s Kjetil Andre Aamodt won a third super-G to share the record of four Olympic Alpine skiing golds with Croatia’s Janica Kostelic, who defended her combined title.
Shani Davis became the first black athlete to win an individual gold medal, capturing the men’s 1 000m speed-skating title, while South Korea enjoyed a double gold short-track sweep.
The 23-year-old Davis beat fellow American Joey Cheek, with Dutchman Erben Wennemars taking bronze.
Davis followed in the history-making footsteps of American bobsledder Vonetta Flowers, who in 2002 became the first black Winter Olympic champion in the two-woman event.
”It’s just cool to win a gold medal,” Davis said. ”So many people work so hard to get a medal, regardless of colour. It feels good to have a medal, especially a gold one.”
Defending men’s super-G champion Aamodt recaptured the title he first won 14 years ago to become the most successful Alpine skier to date with a record haul of eight Olympic medals.
Aamodt (34) was the 2002 Olympic super-G and combined champion and he also won the super-G title in 1992.
Thirty minutes later, Kostelic added to her three Olympic golds — slalom, giant slalom and combined — from Salt Lake City.
Aamodt, who had been uncertain to compete because of a knee injury, stunned the favourites with a time of one minute, 30,65 seconds, in a race that had been restarted because of bad weather.
Austria’s Hermann Maier won silver 0,13 seconds adrift, with Ambrosi Hoffmann of Switzerland taking bronze.
Fighting off the effects of flu, 24-year-old Kostelic pipped Austria’s Marlies Schild, who led after Friday’s slalom sections, by 0,5 seconds in the weather-delayed women’s combined event. Swede Anja Pearson took bronze.
It was a stunning run by Kostelic who pulled out of Wednesday’s downhill complaining of a high pulse rate and had struggled with her health all week.
South Korea’s Ahn Hyun-Soo won the most satisfying victory of his short-track speed-skating career, beating United States rival Apolo Anton Ohno for gold in a race that broke his heart in 2002. Ahn won his second gold medal of the Winter Olympics, capturing the men’s 1 000m final.
He edged compatriot Lee Ho-Suk with Ohno third.
Reigning world champion Jin Sun-Yu won the women’s 1 500m gold in the night’s other final, with compatriot Choi Eun-Kyung claiming the silver for the second Olympics in a row.
Byun Chun-Sa would have completed a Korean podium sweep but was disqualified by the judges, allowing China’s Wang Meng to take her second medal after capturing 500m gold on Wednesday.
At Pragelato, Austrian teenager Thomas Morgenstern shocked the favourites by taking the big hill ski-jump gold ahead of teammate Andreas Kopfler and Lars Bystoel of Norway.
Kati Wilhelm crushed her rivals in the 10km pursuit to give Germany their third biathlon gold ahead of compatriot Martina Glagow.
In the men’s biathlon 12,5km pursuit, France’s Vincent Defrasne staged a stunning comeback to upset defending champion Ole Einar Bjoerndalen of Norway, as Evgenia Medvedeva-Abruzova clinched the women’s 4x5km cross-country relay title for Russia. — Sapa-AFP