Red-faced Austrians bemoan medal drought

By Michael Shields

VIENNA (Reuters) - Winter can't come soon enough for Austrian sports fans lamenting a summer Olympics that has yet to produce a single medal for their country.

Austria is used to raking in winter Olympic golds in Alpine skiing, its traditional strength, but has not failed to win a summer medal since 1964.

"With no medals, Austria faces the biggest Olympics bust in history. Embarrassing: at the moment we are limping behind the washout of Tokyo in 1964," the Oesterreich tabloid moaned, resorting to comparing the number of fourth-, fifth- and sixth-place finishes the country produced nearly half a century ago.

Austrian hopes were boiling down to a shot at a bronze medal for men's 49er-class sailing on Wednesday and the final of the women's pair canoe sprint on Thursday, which features world champions Yvonne Schuring and Viktoria Schwarz.

It has been a star-crossed Games from the outset for Austria, with a population of 8.4 million, similar to that of neighbouring Switzerland, which has a gold and a silver so far.

First Heinz Jungwirth, head of the national Olympic committee for 26 years, was sentenced to five years in jail in July for embezzling more than 3 million euros (2.4 million pounds) from the organisation.

Then swimmer Markus Rogan seemed to question the intelligence of national skiing star Hermann Maier - winner of two Olympic golds.

"The best athletes are able to turn off their brain at the decisive moment. Maier could do this extremely well, better than I can," Rogan said in an broadcast interview.

Rogan, who won two silver medals at the Athens Games, went on to be disqualified for an illegal turn in a medley in London.

Norbert Darabos, the minister for defence and sport, has promised action.

"I am going to put support of sports on a completely new footing. The current system suffices on average for three Olympics medals. We are too far removed from the world elite in summer," he told a newspaper interviewer last week.

"The self-satisfaction of certain athletes here in London bothers me," he added. "It is great when some athletes declare how beautiful life in the Olympic village is, but athletic success has to be the priority."

(Editing by Kevin Liffey)

(This story removes erroneous reference to canoe pair as defending champions, in the fourth paragraph)