February 2002 News Updates (Continued)
February 27 Update
February 25 Update
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February 28 Update
Breaking News...Blood Transfusion Equipment Found In Austrian House Used At Olympics
Here we go again folks...
An investigation is currently underway by Utah law enforcement and SLOC/IOC officials after the discovery of blood transfusion equipment at a house used by cross-country skiers during the Winter Olympics. The International Olympic Committee said in a statement, released today, that the equipment was found on Wednesday by a housekeeper cleaning a private property used by Austria's XC skiers competing at the SLC Games.
"Medical equipment and empty blood packs were found ... The owner of the house hurt herself while handling this material," the IOC statement said.
IOC president Jacques Rogge has ordered an immediate investigation, the statement said, adding that discarded material recovered from the house would be subject to DNA testing in an attempt to track down the culprits.
Given the nature of the equipment reportedly discovered in the house, early speculation is that the athletes may have been involved in a form of blood doping. Blood doping involves athletes removing their own blood weeks before competition and placing the plasma in storage. Once the athletes blood levels have returned to normal, the stored blood is then re-injected into the athletes body, shortly before competition to create a boost in oxygen-rich red blood cells. The process is hard to detect but fraught with dangers. Experts have warned that risks of infection and of blood thickening are high in the procedure. Blood doping has also fallen out of favor in the past several years within the doping world due to the dangers and the efficacy of products such as EPO.
Although no specific athletes have been mentioned by authorities as yet in this on-going investigation, athletes in the house where the equipment was found include men's 30km silver and bronze medalists Christian Hoffman and Mikhail Botvinov. The gold in that same race went to Johann Muehlegg with that medal subject to an international debate due to Muehlegg's positive doping tests. 4th-5th-6th in the men's 30km went to Kristen Skjeldal (NOR), Pietro Piller Cottrer (ITA), and Ole Einar Bjoerndalen (NOR).
xcskiworld.com will continue to follow this breaking story and will bring you more information as we find it.
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Results From 2002 Masters World Cup
Complete results from all events thus far at the 2002 Masters World Cup in Quebec City, Canada are now posted on the official event website..
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Yes You Can Make A Difference!
Literally dozens of xcskiworld.com readers have been asking us over the past several weeks if there is a way they can make a difference in ending the dope show. Thanks to our friends over at Cross Country Canada, a very easy reference has been found for email addresses and more to voice your opinion. This CCC link offers a great chart to help readers find people that can indeed make the following decisions...
- Awarding duplicate medals to the clean athletes victimized by the So-Ho Trio.
- Implementation of the kind of fundamental changes to the testing system proposed in our February 27 update.
- Legislating and enforcing tougher penalties not only on individual athletes that cheat but also support personnel, national teams, and national federations.
Note for non-Canadian readers...when contacting authorities that your best bet is to focus on the IOC, FIS, and WADA. Go ahead and voice your opinion from a personal perspective and make sure to emphasize that you are a consumer. The dope show will only end when economic pressure forces the alphabet soup to crack down. Pressure can only be brought about when consumers speak as one.
xcskiworld.com is also searching for a good contact for readers to voice opinions to the NBC network on their largely-improved Nordic coverage at SLC2002...but also asking why the network has ignored the on-going doping saga when they could not stop talking about the pairs figure skating situation.
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More Dope On Dope
Dr. Hughson from the University of Waterloo was kind enough to share a great resource with readers interested in educating themselves more about what can be done with dope testing. Check the following out... "A global strategy for prevention and detection of blood doping with erythropoietin and related drugs"
Mario Cazzola, M.D. University of Pavia School of Medicine, Division of Hematology, IRCCS Policlinico S. Matteo, 27100 Pavia, Italy Haematologica 85: 561-563, 2000.
Inge Scheve has brought us the following translated pieces from various Scandinavian sources...
Wednesday, Feb. 27 2002 (NTB) Lahti-testing in Limbo
Oslo (NTB): Racers will most likely not be tested for DPO in Lahti, Finland, this weekend.
The various World Cup organizers decide whether urine samples will be tested, and they also pay the cost for the lab testing.
There is no directive in place demanding organizers to test urine samples at this time, says FIS official Bengt-Erik Bengtsson. However, he guarantees that starting next season, such testing will be required of the organizers to ensure that cheaters are caught.
During the Olympics, only between 10 and 15 racers were tested for the new super drug DPO. DPO lab testing is extremely costly and time consuming. The Olympicc doping lab allegedly spent more than 30 hours on Johann Muehlegg's samples alone.
"We have not yet decided what level we are testing at for the Lahti WC," says Bengtsson. The doping cops are arriving Lahti Thursday.
In cooperation with Bengt-Erik Bengtsson (head of cross-country in FIS) and technical delegate Vegard Ulvang, we will review the situation, says Matti Haapova, chief of competition in Lahti.
Haapova can not guarantee that testing will be widespread in Lahti even in light of the recent Olympic doping scandal.
Norwegian Team Physician Lereim thinks many cheaters escaped (Oslo NTB): Due to limited capacity, only between 10 and 15 racers were tested for DPO during the Olympics.
"We have only seen a shadow of the truth," says Inggard Lereim.
The assistant head of FIS' medical committee and the team physician of the Norwegian Olympic contingent says he is certain several cheaters avoided being caught in Salt Lake City.
"It is regrettable that not all medal winners were tested for DPO," he says. "From the IOC I learn that the labs did not have the capacity to perform that amount of tests."
He continues: "But I also want to congratulate the IOC on their 'harvest'. It was a wakeup call for cross-country skiing."
Lereim believes in the test method called SAFE, developed by the Norwegian gone American physician Jim Stray Gundersen. This method screens the athlete's blood over an extended period of time to allow testers to spot abnormal blood counts. The method is used by FIS and the International Skating Union (ISU).
Aftenposten, Feb. 27, 2002, BY ROBERT VEIKER JOHANSEN Stray-Gundersen has 2,500 tests drawn from 1,000 athletes: He may have the equivalent of doping dynamite.
The Norwegian-gone-American professor of physiology who works for the Norwegian Olympic Committee's altitude project is the inventor of the test method SAFE. SAFE is well acknowledged and accepted in various athletic communities.
Over the last three years, Stray-Gundersen has collected blood samples from 1,000 athletes in skating, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined and biathlon. However, he has promised to keep the names and nationalities of the involved athletes anonymous.
One athlete submitted 14 samples. More than 300 athletes have been tested more than five times. By comparing the test results, Stray-Gundersen can easily recognize abnormal blood counts, he says.
"I cannot reveal the numbers," he says. "That would be unethical."
At the same time, he backs Swedish coach Magnar Dalen who Tuesday argued that as many as half of the skiers at the SLC Olympics could be doped.
"I have deep respect for Dalen," says Stray-Gundersen.
- Even after his claims in Aftenposten Tuesday?
"Yes."
Norwegian president of elite athletics Bjoerge Stensboel says Stray-Gundersen’s numbers could contribute to pinpoint specific athletes and specific sports. "If the doping cops are able to crack the coding in the report and thereby reveal the names and nationalities of the athletes, this study could contain some serious dynamite," Stensboel says. "But that could be next to impossible. For that to happen, the individual sports federations must approve."
- Not that hard
The International Skating Union (ISU) contributed 1,500 of the samples collected as the IBU already uses the SAFE test. FIS and the International Biathlon Union (IBU) do not use the test but still contributed 1,000 samples to the project.
"If Mr. X has normal blood counts in January, abnormal in March, normal in June and abnormal in August, anyone can see there is something bizarre going on," says Stray-Gundersen. "But currently, it's not that hard to escape the doping cops."
However, he still refuses to reveal the origin of his samples. "I have submitted an article to the European Physical Journal of Applied Physics, and I hope to know within the coming month if the review board accepts the study."
-What consequences do you expect?
"I hope the study inspires some changes in doping policies." Stray-Gundersen's contributions and knowledge have brought him many enemies. That a man who knows this much about blood doping has such an important position in Norwegian sports also ignites the idea that Norwegian sports must be far from clean. "It's impossible to be 100 percent sure about anything," he says. "But I feel confident that Norwegian and Swedish athletes are clean. Norwegian athletes such Kristen Skjeldal, Bente Skari, and Ole Einar Bjoerndalen and have all been extremely interested in helping out with the study."
FIS Inggard Lereim, the assistant president of FIS's medical committee, also believes in the testing method. "We have tested and developed the method over several World Cup races, and during the pre-Olympics and the World Championships in Lahti, Finland, last season," he says. "We have valid indications that there is widespread cheating in the sport that is not caught in the regular doping procedure. This screening reveals changes in blood counts and indicate which athletes we need to keep an extra eye on," Lereim said Tuesday.
Readers Questions On The Doping Saga
Note: Once again, xcskiworld.com would like to thank all the readers that have been sending in your notes on our coverage of the international dope show both pre and post-Olympics. Please know that your support is greatly valued even when we can't manage a response back. Thank you!
Since we've gotten several questions along the same thread regarding the dope show, it seemed best to try and respond in a news update to reach the widest possible audience.
Question: What can I do about the doping situation on a grass-roots level.
xcskiworld.com is currently working on a couple mini-projects that will address this very question. Look for more info in the next few days.
Question: Is the doping problem isolated to a few competitors or nations? "It seems dangerous and does a great disservice to the goal of cleaning up this sport to conclude that a few bad apples are the problem. This will only lead to stripping medals from cheaters and turning them over to more cheaters. It is my belief at this stage that the top racers from all countries are probably engaged in some form of doping simply out of competitive necessity"
This is a great question and a natural follow-up opinion. It's also an issue that most likely cannot be answered conclusively in a journalistic fashion. Why? Simply because the exact depth to which the doping problem reaches is something that no one in the sport apparently knows. One could interview countless IOC, FIS, WADA officials and get a variety of answers that totally contradict the information being provided by international coaches, athletes, industry reps, and sports medicine personnel. Here at xcskiworld.com, we tend to trust the people in the trenches that are actually seeing, hearing, and noting the dope show all around...rather than trust an alphabet soup of officials. The scale of the different positions on the doping problem is precisely what is driven athletes like Canadian Beckie Scott and others to put themselves in the global spotlight arguing for tougher testing, more testing, independent testing, and full disclosure of results at all times.
As to what is known, there is ample evidence that proves that a number of World Cup athletes are indeed completely clean. There is also ample evidence to suggest that actually a majority of top World Cup athletes from certain countries are clean. Even if this evidence was not available, (as one reader recently and correctly pointed out) it would be irresponsible and just plain wrong to put a guilty label on every international athlete or even every medalist. The issue at hand is how we can separate the 30-40% of the top skiers that are cheating from the majority that are not.
Why did it take a "random" test to catch Muehlegg and Lazutina? Aren't all the top finishers tested on a uniform and consistent basis in these major races? If they aren't, do you believe that such an arbitrary and limited system can ever restore credibility to racing results?
The World Cup currently uses a random system of tests in addition to regular doping control of top athletes. The random system resulted in the controversial situation with Kristina Smigun back in January and also conclusively snared Russian skier Baranova just prior to the Games. However, critics have been terribly vocal about World Cup testing because it continues to be conducted under the auspices of the FIS rather than a true independent agency such as WADA. Critics continue to claim that FIS officials have deliberately witheld, manipulated, and destroyed evidence of doping with top World Cup athletes. The reason? Intimidation from national federations and marketing pressures.
With this year's Olympics, every XC athlete in SLC underwent pre-Games screening and every athlete is subject to the random hemoglobin tests/doping control around each race. Top athletes are also guaranteed to be part of the post-race doping control.
That sounds like a whole lot of testing so one might wonder why the ski community is not guaranteed that all cheaters are being caught. The realities on this have been provided by several coaches and ski industry personnel that wish to remain nameless. To paraphrase while protecting the identity of these sources (note that this is information provided to xcskiworld.com by reputable sources rather than invention of our own opinions)...
"The reason the testing system isn't working is because the IOC, FIS, and even WADA do not want it to work. The only way you can catch dopers in the off season or in the normal World Cup season is to implement totally random tests done on an international level rather than leaving such testing up to national federations. Right now the sports science for the cheaters is so good that skiers are manipulating their doping, training, and racing to make a mockery out of the testing process. The only way skiers get caught is if they make a mistake (rare) or do something stupid. Even in those cases, the officials are more likely to cover up the results rather than prosecute the athlete. Why?
Imagine if all the cheaters were exposed just prior to Salt Lake rather than one lone Russian woman? The international media would have immediately focused on the doping epidemic within XC skiing rather than the "ideal presentation" of the Games. NBC, SLOC, and other powerful interests (i.e. sponsors) would have hated that. So, it is little surprise that WADA boss Dick Pound first says that up to 18 athletes will be removed from the Games...then Baranova is tossed...then magically the other pre-Games positive tests disappeared.
The biggest mystery is why positive Olympic tests were allowed to be made public thus resulting in the three big names going down. Suspicions are that someone threatened to blow the whistle after it was widely known that 2 of the 3 had gone over the hemoglobin levels. But no one really knows for sure."
What changes in the testing system would make the system work?
You hear a whole bunch of different opinions on this item but there are some universal things that have more support than others...
- Make WADA a true indepedent agency with guaranteed fiscal autonomy from FIS and the IOC...and true power to institute valid testing. And get a guy that cares about clean athletes rather than the egos of officials to head the organization.
Right now you cannot find a representative group of international athletes and coaches that respect WADA, particularly after the inane war of words WADA boss Dick Pound recently waged in the media with skier Beckie Scott over the depth of the doping problem. After Scott continued to insist that doping was still happening at the highest levels heading in the Games, Pound countered (publicly) that "less than 1% of Olympic athletes were cheating". Not more than a few days later, the greatest doping scandal in the history of the Olympics erupted. Ooops. Since the Games, no public apology has been forthcoming from Pound.
The basic problem with the WADA situation right now is that WADA is the "police department". They are supposed to be "the good guys" that come in, fairly implement valid tests, and then announce the results. Unfortunately, right now it is readily apparent that WADA is under the same financial and logistical pressures we've seen in the past with FIS and IOC testing groups...otherwise why else would Pound publicly attack the one athlete that has stuck her neck out on behalf of clean sport more than any other on the international circuit today?
- Continue to withold information about new valid tests and continue to enforce the rule that allows expansion of banned substances beyond the current published list.
Both the So-Ho Trio and Lahti Six cases would never, ever have happened were it not for these two critical items. The Finnish, Spanish, and Russian groups that orchestrated the doping protocols for the snared athletes clearly thought they knew what they were doing when they selected substances that would skirt the illegal boundaries. Only by not telling the world that valid tests were available for the substances being used, were authorities able to capture the cheaters. It's a good bet that there will be more people in the scientific community willing to help the good guys than the bad guys. The more we can confuse and confound the bad guys, the more likely it will be that they will continue to get caught. It's awfully hard to go around a burgular alarm you don't know is there.
- Implement year-round random testing and enforce all rules with regards to such testing.
We can test people 24/7 during major championships and not guarantee a clean sport. What we need is random testing throughout every training year. The "good guys" in the sports medicine community know exactly when and where teams/athletes are cheating. There is a certain timeline with dope products that makes them more effective. When we start having the cops show up, completely unannounced, at training camps and personal "training retreats" (i.e. injection sessions) all over the world...with the power to suspend athletes for two years just for "disappearing at the wrong time"...then, and only then, will we start to see serious changes to the dope show.
- Make national federations and teams accountable for cheaters within their boundaries.
This is an unsettling notion for many folks but the more you think about the realities of international XC skiing, the more it makes sense. The reality is that in the tightest team structures, the team sports med staff has to know that athletes in that system are cheating. Only sheer incompetence would allow a physician or physiologist to be looking at dozens of blood/urine samples, year-round, from doped athletes on their team and NOT see the forest for the trees. By the same token, coaches and administration within those team structures either have to know the doping is going on...particularly when it involves several athletes and top ones at that.
By making the entire national team structure accountable for the actions of cheaters racing under their banner, the national teams would have a simple choice. Legitimately crack down on dope within their borders or risk being suspended as a nation.
Further, individuals and groups within a given nation that are not part of the national team but have vested interest in seeing that nation compete on a global stage would also then have a reason to force the issue of clean sport in that country. Club leaders, non-naitonal team athletes/coaches, industry reps, parents...you name it...would all be instantly concerned about a nation maintaining international eligibility.
- Make penalties stiff enough.
The current two year suspension from international racing is clearly doing nothing to curb the dope show. Worse, it is doing nothing to make cheaters think twice even when they are caught. When suspended athletes like Egorova, Isometsa, etc. return (or soon will) to the global stage, they send out a dubious message. "I cheated. I got to keep tons of money and medals. And now I get to race again alongside people that were clean the entire time!" Tossing someone out of an Olympics with a few hours left to go is also a joke.
The only way penalties are going to work is if they are stiff enough...and comprehensive enough...that athletes and their support system have no choice but to gulp, and gulp hard, when they caught. Possible remedies include lifetime bans, legal action (including the potential for financial claims), and a wide enough net to include all sports med staff, coaches, other athletes, and administration that participated in, or knew about, the cheating.
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Drumbeat Gets Louder For Scott And Others To Get "Real" Medals
"Technically, they are Olympic champions. Morally, it is a totally different issue." IOC President Jacques Rogge.
XC Canada Reports On Worldwide Reaction To So-Ho Trio Scandal
Cross Country Canada piece "Beckie Deserves Gold"
Letter To The Toronto Star Editor
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Dope On The Actual Dope That Nailed So-Ho Trio
Editor: A reader submitted this info but we weren't able to catch the source.
The former head of the Socit du Tour de France, Jean-Claude Killy, warned the International Olympic committee about the drug Nesp (darbepoetin), which was found in three cross country skiiers' urine samples at the Winter Olympics. Killy told the IOC about the drug a few months ago after he suspected its use within cycling, according to an anonymous member of the committee.
The drug was designed for cancer and renal patients suffering from anaemia, and is considered to be a great improvement on EPO with a longer half life and a stronger effect. Unlike EPO, it is not naturally produced by the body, and is therefore (in principal) easy to detect.
At the Olympics, testing for the drug was only carried out if an athletes' blood values were abnormal, as the Nesp test is expensive and slow. The three skiers, Johann MŸhlegg, Larissa Lazutina and Olga Danilova, were all screened prior to the secondary analysis.
Nesp was spoken about in cycling circles following the Vuelta Espana last year, when reports of cyclists using the drug during the Spanish race were circulated in the Italian press. There is another cycling connection as well, as according to German website Radsport-News.com, MŸhlegg's doctor is none other than Nicolas Terrados (ONCE), who was charged and fined in relation to the Festina affair.
Other blood boosters such as HemAssist, Oxyglobin and RSR 13 have also been rumoured to be in use within the peloton for at least the past two years. It is clear that the blood screening tests which were used to tip off drug testers in Salt Lake City will need to be improved if blood boosters in sport are to be reduced. The positive news is that the blood screening used (without result) at the Sydney Olympics was further refined prior to Salt Lake City, as the three cross country skiiers above found out.
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U.S. Nordic Athletes Declare Medal-less Olympics A Success
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Finnish Finlandia Overcomes Wild Weather
The 29th Finlandia Ski Marathon was organised in snow and wind. The storm front stayed over Lahti for the entire night before and most of the day during the race. The men's race was won by Ville NiemelŠ from Tampere, Finland, with time 2.19:36. Second was the winner of 2001 Finlandia, Stanislav Rezac from Czech Republic became second and Valeri Rodokhlebov from Russia was third.
The women's race was won by Anu Kyyhkynen, second was Maija Saarinen and third Sirkka Ehrnrooth, all from Finland.
There were 5555 participants in Finlandia Ski Marathon, 4675 in the classical 44km and 880 in the classical 30 km race. 22 nationalties were present at the longer and 12 at the shorter race. The number or participants was 1,000 bigger than in 2001.
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Rangeley Lakes Loppet
The Rangeley Lakes Loppet is the jewel event of the nordic community of Rangeley Lakes, Maine. Now in its sixth year, the cross-country ski loppet allows both classic and skate techniques. Saturday, March 2nd, is a Loppet day for everyone -- families, racers, beginner skiers and marathon veterans to enjoy cross-country skiing. The 25-km and 50-km freestyle (ski-skating or traditional technique) event includes a racing and a touring division. The touring divisions are not timed, so everyone can enjoy the day at their own pace. The race division begins with a mass start for all age groups at 9:30am. Skiers in the touring event begin at 9:40am. Participants, whether racing or touring, can accumulate kilometers-skied to earn medals certifying the distanced skied in this event. Both racers and non-timed participants will be pampered at gourmet food stations along the way.
Classic tracks will be set for the touring division. The course is fun and ski-able for all levels. Since Rangeley is in the mountains, there will be some hills, but the uphills are gentle and the downhills wide and safe. There are also long stretches of flat and rolling terrain suitable for cruising. Skiers doing the 25km event will do one loop of the course, known as the Outer Limits; those doing the 50km event will do 2 loops. There are 5 food or drink stops on each lap, 4 to 8 kilometers apart. All the courses offer wide trails through woods, fields, and areas with panoramic winter vistas of the Northwoods. All participants, in addition to receiving recognition awards, will have an equal opportunity to win $6,000 worth of merchandise prizes, including such items as Patagonia wear, skis, poles, ski clothing, and wax, and recreational equipment, not just racer stock!
"We're trying to establish the Loppet as a recreational goal for the family," says race director, Jeff Foltz. "Just come out and have a party on the snow! Each year we try to emphasize you can do the whole thing (50km), or half the distance (25km), and you can leave anytime in a 20-minute window after the racers, so you're not bothered by the racers. There are food stations with gourmet treats, not just sports drink, at approximately every 5km. And if you've decided you've had enough, you can get a ride home from any of those stations." Even the local health club has developed a specific program to help people get ready for the Loppet. "This is not a race, unless you want it to be," says Foltz. "This is a snow festival! I'd like to see a 2:1 ratio, with twice as many recreational skiers as racers. "
To register, contact the Rangeley Lakes XC Ski Club call 207/864- 4309 or email them at: rlxcski@gwi.net. Or for more information try these websites: www.etravelmaine.com/rangeleyxcski or www.nensa.net. Online registration for the Loppet available at www.active.com.
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XC Job Opportunity
Midwest (Minnesota) XC Ski Store is looking for a full or part-time xc skier who is passionate about skiing, creative and wants to build our cataloque business. Job entails writing about skis and ski items, basic computer and web work. Call 952/473-0093 and ask for Jan or email gearwest@gearwest.com.
A Second Major Victory For Clean XC Skiing Everywhere
Editor's Note: Although major media outlets throughout the world have already "spilled the beans" on the positive doping tests, confirmed Sunday afternoon, of Larissa Lazutina and Olga Danilova of Russia and (formerly) 3x gold medalist Johann Muehlegg of Spain...the following is a quick review of the high points as well as two good summary articles on other sites.
All three athletes tested positive for darbepoetin, a drug designed to help kidney patients avoid anemia, in random doping control tests conducted just prior to the final weekend of racing. Although darbepoetin is not listed on the official Olympic banned substance list, International Olympic Committee and FIS rules allow for an interpretation of the drug's use and properties which ultimately resulted in the same penalties as if the drug was on the list. After an amazingly quick (for the alphabet soup of oversight bodies) review and confirmation process, the IOC stripped Lazuntina and Muehlegg of gold medals won by the two athletes in the final 30km (women's) and 50km (men's) classic races. Danilova was disqualified from her 8th place in the women's 30km. All three athletes were expelled from the Games and prevented from taking part in the closing ceremonies. All three will also face a likely suspension from the International Ski Federation (FIS)...per past positive doping tests, most likely just for two years from the date of the positive test.
The story doesn't end there however.
In what will likely prove to be a protracted legacy of SLC 2002, in accordance with IOC rules, medals won prior to the positive doping tests by all three athletes will be allowed to stand. These medals include Lazutina's silver medals in the women's 15km skate and same-day pursuit, Danilova's gold medal in the same-day pursuit, and Muehlegg's gold medals from the men's 30km skate and same-day pursuit. The decision to allow the three athletes to keep the collective pile of hardware has drawn swift and vehement reaction from around the world.
Even IOC President Jacque Rogge publicly acknowledged Sunday the "tainted" moralitiy of allowing doped athletes to keep medals on the basis of when positive tests appeared. "Technically, they are Olympic champions," Rogge said. "Morally, it is a totally different issue."
The issue of the medals not stripped from the three athletes...now being labeled the "So-Ho Trio" following the infamous heels of the "Lahti Six" caught at last year's World Championships (So-Ho is the volunteer's nickname for 2002 Olympic venue Soldier Hollow)...is of particular interest to many non-European XC fans because of the women's same-day pursuit.
In that February 15 event, Canadian Beckie Scott became only the second non-European athlete (and first female non-European) ever to win an Olympic medal in XC skiing when she outsprinted Czech skier Katerina Neumannova to the line for the bronze medal. With Danilova and Lazutina taking gold and silver, the issue of the two doped athletes keeping those medals ahead of Scott has leapt to the very top of the NorAm XC radar. The historic nature of Scott's performance would likely only increase with confirmation that she had actually won gold rather than bronze. It is also already being argued in some quarters that Scott is being economically penalized by the IOC rules. International sports marketing agencies consistently harp on the fact that gold medals are "worth more" in terms of sponsorships and potential product endorsements than silver or bronze medals.
Already six skiers in last weekend's distance events...Italian skiers Gabriella Paruzzi and Stephania Belmondo as well as Norwegian Bente Skari on the women's side; Russian Mikhail Ivanov (more on this), Estonian Andrus Veerpalu and Norwegian Odd-Bjoern Hjelmeset...have all benefitted from Lazutina and Muehlegg being stripped of medals. Such was the "success" of Lazutina, Danilova, and Muehlegg at the Games, if all their Olympic medals were stripped (or if additional medals were awarded as was the case with the controversial figure skating pairs case), a grand total of 13 medals would be reawarded including Scott's erstwhile gold medal.
Look for xcskiworld.com Editor J.D. Downing to weigh in with an op-ed piece later today on this issue and continuing coverage of the entire So-Ho Trio bust throughout this coming month.
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A Note From xcskiworld.com To Our Readers
Editor: I'd like to say thank you and "your welcome" to the hundreds of readers that have expressed your appreciation for xcskiworld.com's coverage of the 2002 Winter Olympics. As much as you enjoyed reading the coverage, that's how much I enjoyed bringing it to you.
The Olympic coverage represented the largest single project the site has ever attempted in it's seven seasons as the worldwide leader in electronic XC ski news and information. Literally thousands of dollars as well as thousands of man hours went into bringing the XC world exclusive coverage of all sixteen days of the 2002 Winter Olympic Nordic Events. In turn, that investment was made possible exclusively because of the support of the American Cross Country Skiers (AXCS) membership as well as our fantastic advertising family.
A non-profit 501c3 membership association, AXCS is the national association for Master cross country skiers. AXCS operates xcskiworld.com as part of the organizational mission to provide exemplary membership benefits and to support & promote XC skiing throughout the United States. Our advertising and sponsorship family (via banner advertising and other promotions) provides a large percentage of the fixed operational costs of the site. However, annual support from AXCS membership dues makes up a critical portion of the site budget each and every year.
On behalf of the AXCS National Masters Committee and members throughout the United States, I would like to encourage and invite readers that are not currently members of the AXCS to join the organization this spring. For the low annual dues of $35 (often less with various special promotion programs), AXCS members enjoy a wide range of benefits adding up to the very best membership value in all of XC skiing. More pertinent to the subject at hand, your annual support helps guarantee that xcskiworld.com will continue providing free access to XC ski news, information, and educational materials...most of it available no where else...24/7/365...into the future.
You can find an on-line membership form in the official AXCS organizational section (located on the index frame) or by clicking on any AXCS logo.
Thanks again for your support!
J.D. Downing, xcskiworld.com Editor and AXCS National Director.
