Former Olympic cross-country ski champion Christian Hoffmann has retired from the sport after Austria’s national anti-doping agency provisionally suspended him for his alleged involvement in blood doping.

“I won’t have a chance now to qualify (for the Vancouver Olympics),” Hoffmann told the Austria Press Agency. “And as it would have been my last season anyway, I quit immediately.”

The 35-year-old Hoffmann won gold in the 30- kilometre race at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games and was part of the Austrian relay team that won the world title in 1999. He holds six World Cup titles.

Earlier on Thursday, NADA banned Hoffmann from all competitions with immediate effect until a hearing by the agency’s disciplinary committee has taken place.

NADA did not reveal a date for the hearing, but Hoffmann’s attorney Hans-Moritz Pott said it would take place on 29 January.

That would mean that Hoffmann won’t be able to qualify for the Olympics in Vancouver.

Hoffmann has never tested positive, but prosecutors in Austria have been investigating possible blood doping by him and other athletes since May.

Hoffmann, who has always denied any wrongdoing, says it’s “unfair” to him that he has already been suspended ahead of the committee’s hearing.

“I just didn’t get the chance to defend myself and to prove my innocence,” Hoffmann said. “So, the winter is over. They are dragging it out that long so I don’t have a chance to qualify for the Olympics.”

NADA released a statement on its decision but the chairman of the disciplinary committee, Gernot Schaar, declined to comment.

NADA had officially opened proceedings against Hoffmann earlier this month.

Hoffmann allegedly colluded with cyclists Bernhard Kohl and Michael Rasmussen and Kohl’s former manager Stefan Matschiner, who was arrested in March and has admitted he helped Kohl with blood doping.