Austrian ski speed king Hermann Maier will travel to the Winter Olympics in Turin this week despite reports that he is suffering from flu, his spokesman said on Sunday.

Maier was named earlier in the day in an Austrian alpine ski team which is expected to dominate the men's competition on the slopes of Sestriere, shortly before reports on the Austrian news agency APA saying he and some other team members had caught flu.

But Maier's spokesman Walter Delle Karth told Austrian journalists later that the skier was resting at home in Flachau as a precautionary measure and that there was no question of him not travelling to Italy on Wednesday to prepare for the Olympic races.

The Winter Games open in Turin on Friday.

Delle Karth said Maier had not been feeling 100 percent and had decided against travelling to Vienna on Sunday to attend a reception being given for the Olympic team by Austrian president Heinz Fischer.

"He preferred to stay at home and rest to avoid getting worse", Delle Karth said.

Maier, who won two gold medals in the 1998 Olympics in Nagano but who missed the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City after sustaining severe injuries in a motor cycling accident, is fourth in the overall World Cup standings and a medals favourite for Turin.

APA said earlier that Austrian team chief Toni Giger had said Maier, Rainer Schoenfelder and Christoph Gruber were all showing flu symptoms along with some team support staff.

All three were named in the 13-strong Austrian men's alpine team but Andreas Schifferer, the 2002 Olympic Super-G bronze medallist was left out.

Also missing from the squad was Matthias Lanzinger, despite a third place in December in the Beaver Creek World Cup Super-G. Brigitte Obermoser was left out of the women's team of nine after injuring her knee in downhill training.

Austrian team - Men: Andreas Buder, Stephan Goergl, Christoph Gruber, Reinfried Herbst, Klaus Kroell, Hermann Maier, Mario Matt, Manfred Pranger, Benjamin Raich, Hannes Reichelt, Rainer Schoenfelder, Fritz Strobl, Michael Walchhofer.

Women: Michaela Dorfmeister, Andrea Fischbacher, Elisabeth Goergl, Renate Geoschl, Nicole Hosp, Michaela Kirchgasser, Alexandra Meissnitzer, Marlies Schild, Kathrin Zettel.

Source: China Daily