Austrian Olympic Committee president Leo Wallner says he’ll step down effective Sept. 23

Austrian Olympic Committee president Wallner quits

VIENNA — The president of Austria’s Olympic Committee is resigning in the wake of a series of doping and financial scandals that have rocked the organization.

Leo Wallner issued a brief statement Friday saying his resignation will take effect Sept. 23.

“I am aware that personal changes are needed for restructuring,” Wallner said. “The chosen point in time guarantees a proper handing over … which is important to the AOC and the sports in Austria.”

Sports Minister Norbert Darabos had suggested earlier this week that it might be time for a “generation change” at the head of the Vienna-based committee.

“Leo Wallner’s resignation is the right step in this situation that is so difficult for the Olympic movement,” Darabos said Friday. “I’ve got the idea that finally a rethinking is taking place” within the AOC.

The 73-year-old Wallner is Austria’s longest-serving national Olympic committee president. His announcement comes three weeks before an extraordinary general meeting to deal with the fallout of doping and financial scandals.

“I want to make clear that I am not going to let the AOC down,” Wallner said. “I will keep supporting them with all my strength in this difficult phase.”

Austrian prosecutors have been investigating questionable cash transactions tied to the committee’s failed bid to host the 2014 Winter Olympics in Salzburg.

Wallner became the committee’s 10th president in 1990, taking over from Kurt Heller, and was re-elected for another four-year term last February.

Wallner, who had been general director of Casinos Austria for 40 years before resigning in 2007, has also been a member of the International Olympic Committee since 1998.

The IOC said it had no comment.

The national committee had recently been hit by a financial scandal over murky money flows surrounding the failed bid to host the 2014 Games, which prompted AOC general secretary Heinz Jungwirth to step down earlier this year.

Wallner allegedly neglected to properly supervise the situation, in which a lobbyist was paid more than $1.4 million.

“These incidents made clear that the structures and control mechanisms didn’t work properly,” Wallner said. “That’s why we started a wide restructuring.”

Jungwirth said Wallner’s resignation was “the best” the president could do under the given circumstances.

“He (Wallner) has done a great job for 19 years and he doesn’t deserve to be slammed by different people now,” the former general secretary said. “Next year is Vancouver, it would be nice if the committee was to get a strong leadership again soon.”

The AOC’s executive board decided Monday to file official complaints against Jungwirth, who was held responsible for financial irregularities during his roughly 25-year tenure.

Wallner declined to comment on the legal steps against Jungwirth.

“The AOC and I want a detailed clarification of the facts and we don’t want to influence the investigations in any way by giving a public statement,” Wallner said. “It’s up to the courts now.”

The Salzburg public prosecutor’s office has already been investigating Jungwirth and four others since mid-February.

Salzburg lost the bid to host the 2014 Olympics to Sochi, Russia, two years ago.