Meyer drops case

"These lawsuits have been withdrawn this afternoon and they are now finished," Walter Mayer's lawyer Christian Pilz said.

He said a statement would be released later in the day.

Mayer's former lawyer had said his client's reputation and career was "damaged by completely groundless comments".

Rogge was quoted as saying during the Turin Games that Mayer was "the man who organises doping".

The Austrian coach was suing Pound for saying blood transfusion equipment was found at Mayer's home.

Rogge said he was not concerned by the decision.

"I will change my agenda because I was ready to go... in court in Vienna and so now I can do something else on the same day," Rogge told reporters at the end of an Executive Board meeting.

The lawsuits were set to be heard in Vienna on February 13th for Pound, also an IOC member, and on March 6th for Rogge.

The decision to drop the cases is expected to benefit the city of Salzburg which is bidding to host the 2014 Winter Games. Analysts said the city, bidding against Russia's Sochi and South Korea's Pyeongchang, could have been hurt by the lawsuits.

"The decision of Walter Mayer is certain to exert a calming influence, both nationally and internationally," executive director of Salzburg 2014, Gernot Leitner, said in a statement.

"Whilst some parties tried to establish a link between the Salzburg bid and the Mayer case, the fact is that there was never the slightest connection between Salzburg 2014 and the 'Walter Mayer Affair'," Leitner said, adding that the bid teams of Sochi and Pyeongchang had treated the matter in a fair and correct way.

The IOC will decide on the 2014 host city in July.

Mayer was banned by the IOC from attending the Turin Games and the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver after being implicated in a blood transfusion scandal at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.

Having been reappointed as head coach of Austria's cross-country team, Mayer attended the Turin Games in what the Austrian Ski Federation later described as a "private capacity".

The coach's presence prompted the IOC to launch coordinated night-time raids with the Italian police on the hotels of the Austrian cross-country and biathlon teams.

Ten Austrian athletes were tested for doping but were found to be clean. The IOC has yet to issue a decision on the case having waited months for a report from the Italian authorities.

Mayer crashed his car into a police road-block near the Italian-Austrian border after leaving Turin on the day of the raids. He was subsequently briefly admitted to a psychiatric clinic.