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Russia era ends
Germans win relay after superstar disqualified
By Jesse Hyde
Deseret News Olympic specialist
SOLDIER HOLLOW — Russia, four-time defending Olympic champions in the women's cross country relay, pulled out of Thursday's race after high levels of hemoglobin were found in the blood of one team member.
The disqualification of Russian superstar Larrissa Lazutina infuriated members of Russia's National Olympic Committee, who threatened to skip the closing ceremonies and boycott remaining ice hockey games if an investigation is not conducted into the way figure skating, hockey and cross country skiing are officiated at the Olympics.
Russia's team was so strong going into the race — three members had already won two medals each at these Games — a fifth consecutive gold medal seemed a foregone conclusion. With Russia out of the contest, it became a race between Germany and Norway for gold, with German Evi Sechenbacher and Norwegian Anita Moen sprinting to the finish.
Germany won gold, Norway took silver and Swiss team members surprised even themselves by taking the bronze.
Going into the second leg of the relay, Norway was behind the Germans by 14 seconds when Bente Skari, considered the best classical-technique skier in the world, made up the gap and put Norway in the lead by two seconds going into the third leg. The fourth leg became a race between Moen and Sechenbacher, with Sechenbacher skiing ahead in the last 100 meters.
Canada, expected to finish well, came in eighth, and the American team was dead last among the teams that raced.
Russian National Olympic Committee president Leonid Tyagachev said the race should be rerun or another gold medal awarded to the Russian relay team "since they have won the event for decades."
The Ukraine team, which was not favored to medal, was also disqualified before the race began when one of its skiers failed a blood doping test.
"This is a scandal," Russian team leader Gennady Ramensky said. "They (doping control) are specifically hunting out Russian sportsmen."
Russian officials say the hemoglobin level in Lazutina's blood was normal when officials tested it Thursday morning. But two hours before the race, a test conducted by the International Skiing Federation measured Lazutina's hemoglobin level above the legal limit.
Hemoglobin is the number of red blood cells the blood is carrying. Red blood cells carry oxygen to the muscles, and the more red blood cells an athlete has the better his or her endurance.
High levels of hemoglobin are often linked to blood doping, which has recently plagued cross country skiing. At last year's world championships, six Finnish racers were stripped of their medals and banned from competition for two years after failing blood tests.
Russian coaches said Lazutina's hemoglobin level was high because she is in the middle of her menstrual cycle and that she had done nothing improper.
Russian officials also protested the way the pre-race blood tests were conducted. They said that instead of testing just one athlete from their team, selected at random as is custom, two were tested and that Olga Danilova was asked to give a blood and urine sample, although only one was required.
"I think it's absurd to say it wasn't blood doping, what else was it?" asked Italian skier Stefania Belmondo after the race. "It's an embarrassment for the sport.
Belmondo, who won the 15K mass start on Feb. 9, said blood doping by the Russians could have prevented her from winning even more medals.
"I'm surprised they got caught, but I'm not surprised it's going on," Canadian Beckie Scott said. "It makes me feel good that I can compete with these girls and I'm clean."
Scott and her boyfriend, U.S. cross country skier Justin Wadsworth, recently submitted a petition with hundreds of signatures from elite winter sport athletes to the International Ski Federation that led to changes this year in the way athletes are tested prior to competition.
The winners of the relay were more guarded in their comments but did acknowledge that the Russians likely would have won had they raced.
E-MAIL: jhyde@desnews.com
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February 22, 2002
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