Banned skiing coach Walter Mayer was cleared by the Austrian Ski Federation Friday of any involvement in doping at the Torino Olympics.

A commission comprising three independent judges found no evidence the former Austrian coach orchestrated or participated in any sort of doping effort in Turin.

Banned Austrian ski coach Walter Mayer was cleared of doping allegations linked to the Torino Games.
(Getty Images)

"For us it was clear from the very beginning that Walter Mayer did nothing illegal in Italy and now three independent judges have confirmed that," Mayer's lawyer, Herwig Hasslacher, told the Associated Press on Friday.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Italian police are continuing with their own investigations into the matter.

Mayer guided Austria to the country's first-ever Olympic medals in nordic skiing at the 1998 Nagano Games and two more podium finishes at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.

But Mayer was slapped with a lifetime ban by the International Ski Federation (FIS) after blood-transfusion equipment was found in a chalet at the Salt Lake City Games. That penalty was later reduced to 10 years, starting in 2005.

In February, an Austrian spokesman confirmed that Mayer attended the Torino Games in a private capacity and was in touch with the cross-country and biathlon squads the day before Italian police conducted a raid on the teams' Olympic residences.

In those raids, Italian authorities seized what they claimed was blood-analysis equipment, syringes, asthma medication and other substances.

Olympic anti-doping officials later sprang surprise drug tests on six Austrian cross-country skiers and four biathletes. All of the athletes successfully passed the urine tests.

Mayer eventually left the Games in dramatic fashion, crashing his car into a police blockade near his home in Austria before being admitted to a psychiatric hospital.

Mayer, who maintained his innocence, insisted he was in Italy on a private trip and had no medical equipment with him at the time.

Mayer has since filed defamation lawsuits in Austria against IOC president Jacques Rogge and World Anti-Doping Agency chief Dick Pound for remarks made after the Italian raid.  

With files from the Associated Press