“Dirt bucket campaign”: This is how the ÖOC Presidium reacts to the ad

According to the allegations that became known on Thursday evening, Mennel and Stoss are said to have exceeded their statutory rights in the ÖOC when covering the losses of the crowdfunding platform “I believe in you” (details in the link below).

On Friday afternoon, the ÖOC Executive Board responded to the allegations in a broadcast:

“Under the guise of anonymity, a few want to inflict the greatest possible damage on sport and our Olympic family. They want to enforce their own power interests by all means and undermine democratic decisions. To do this, they have submitted a baseless statement of facts to the public prosecutor’s office through a lawyer in which they accuse our Secretary General of infidelity and the Presidium of aiding and abetting it. We assure you that all of these allegations are baseless and will disappear into smoke and mirrors. What remains, however, is the damage to sport and thus to the athletes . But these people are completely indifferent to that.”

The statement of facts is therefore described as “unfounded”, although it is noted at the beginning of the same broadcast: “Unfortunately, the ÖOC Presidium has not yet received the statement of facts and therefore we ask for your understanding that we cannot yet comment on it in detail .”

Furthermore, it is written about a “dirt bucket campaign” and being put in the “media pillory”. Instead of a (apparently impossible) factual analysis, the ÖOC limits its letter to minimizing the credibility of the communicators.

The letter is signed by Karl Stoss and the executive board members Elisabeth Max-Theurer, Peter Schröcksnadel and Otto Flum.