Austria looking to surpass Beijing medal tally, says chef de mission

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, ITALY, Feb 5 : Austria are aiming to match or surpass their medal haul from the Beijing Winter Games as they return to a European setting for the Milano Cortina Olympics, chef de mission Ingemar Mayer said.

“Our benchmark is Beijing. We had quite successful Games there, 18 medals, and we hope to get there again, even above,” Mayer told Reuters on Thursday, adding that the priority over the past four years had been to provide athletes with the best possible preparation across venues and competition clusters.

Austria finished seventh in the medal table in Beijing with seven Olympic titles. Their best performance, however, came at the 2006 Turin Games when they collected 23 medals - nine of them gold - to end up third in the table.

Mayer said organisers in northern Italy had largely delivered on infrastructure and logistics ahead of the competitions, with athletes already settled into the Olympic environment.

“Fields of play are ready, the villages are ready, all the accommodations are ready, the athletes have arrived, the majority are already here. I think they’re happy,” he said.

“It’s also a nice feeling to be back in Europe, back home. There are some little issues — transportation is always an issue in the first days — but it will be sorted out, and it will be an amazing Games.”

Austria have 37 athletes based in the Cortina cluster, competing in bobsleigh, luge, skeleton and women’s Alpine skiing, with Mayer describing the delegation as a strong group featuring several medal contenders.