In Austria it was already all over town, on Wednesday it was also officially announced at a press conference at the Bergisel in Innsbruck: Toni Innauer will not continue working with the Austrian Ski Association (OESV).

His successor was already found: Ernst Vettori will be the new sports director for nordic combined and skijumping. Vettori won an Olympic Gold medal in 1992 when Innauer was his coach.

Speculations are running wild

Speculations are running wild in Austria now. What will the "mastermind", how some media call the 51-year-old, do now? In a country that saw more than a only few good coaches move over to Germany, many now think that Innauer might start working with the German Ski Association (DSV). "I have some offers now and will look at things carefully", said Innauer.

He said some time ago that he could imagine working in Germay and that it'll be interesting. But: At the DSV nobody wants to know anything about it. Sports director Horst Huettel told Berkutschi that there have been no talks with Toni Innauer over the past days and weeks. "Neither by secretary general Thomas Pfueller nor by me", Huettel pointed out.

"An interesting man, but we have financial limits"

"Innauer is an intersting man with a lot of know-how, that for sure. But we have our financial limits", said Huettel. And there's also no free job to fill.

That sounds like a rejection - at least for now. The media tried to place Innauer in a job within the Austrian Olympic Committee (OEOC), but he denied that. Even a possible job in the European parliament or in the private industry was discussed. 

Did the Olympics 2010 lead to the decision?

It is speculated that Innauer made his decision at the Olympic Games for which he, on the one hand, formed a great team together with Alexander Pointner but, on the other hand, also damaged his image when he and Pointner were attacking the bindings of Simon Ammann and had to give in and watch the Swiss winning two Gold medals.

"Maybe this was decisive. Anton is a very sensitve person. He was always ahead of his time, he is a strategist. The OESV will lose a top employee", said a former athlete who doesn't want his name mentioned to Austrian newspaper "Die Presse". 

Pointner can stay

Pointner's fate doesn't seem to be tied to the fate of the legend Innauer. It can be read that Vettori's first task will be to extend the contract of the Austrian head coach.