Austrian coach in psychiatric hospital
The Austrian ski coach who fled Italy in the wake of a police anti-doping raid earlier this week has been admitted to a psychiatric hospital, says the president of Austria's skiing federation.
"Apparently [Walter Mayer] is still in there," Peter Schroecksnadel told the Associated Press.
"I believe that there was a danger of suicide – they had to take him to the hospital."
Mayer was taken into custody by Italian police Sunday after he allegedly took them on a chase through the mountains that ended with a crash into a police barrier near the Austrian border.
Police earlier in the evening had approached a car in which a man was sleeping. The occupant, identified as Mayer by authorities, drove off, hitting and slightly injuring an officer, and authorities gave chase.
Mayer refused to take a sobriety test requested by the officers. Authorities said he'd likely would be charged with resisting arrest. His license was provisionally suspended.
Mayer was apparently returning to his home country, some hours after Italian authorities had launched their raid on the Austrian biathlon and cross-country team quarters, looking for banned substances and equipment.
Italian authorities said they had seized blood analysis equipment, as well as syringes, vials of distilled water, asthma medication and other substances, according to ANSA, the Italian news agency.
ANSA also reported that one athlete had thrown a bag out of a window of the residence during the raid that contained needles and medicine.
Mayer had been living in a house next door to the Austrian team's residence in the hamlet of San Sicario.
A BBC News report also said that Austrian officials had admitted Mayer was staying with the group.
Meanwhile, the Austrian Ski Federation said Sunday night it has ended its relationship with Mayer, giving the accident as the reason.
"This is inexcusable," said Schroecksnadel. "Whoever does such a thing can no longer be a model for athletes."
There was no indication as to why the Austrian federation had any kind of relationship in the first place with Mayer, who was on the the international ski federation's (FIS) banned list to 2015, and had been banned from the Torino and Vancouver 2010 Games by the IOC.