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Crossed out: Doping disqualifications cloud an otherwise sparkling debut for Soldier Hollow
Doping disqualifications cloud an otherwise sparkling debut for Soldier Hollow
By Jesse Hyde
Deseret News Olympic specialist
SOLDIER HOLLOW — One champion shrugged his shoulders and blamed his positive drug test on a protein diet that had given him diarrhea.
The other, a chip on her shoulder the size of Russia, blamed it on her menstrual cycle.
In the end, after Spain's Johann Muehlegg and Russia'a Larissa Lazutina had each been stripped of one gold medal, they could only blame themselves.
Traces of a drug called darbepoetin, which stimulates red blood cell production, were found in the urine of cross country skiers Muehlegg, Lazutina and Olga Danilova, also of Russia, late Saturday night.
As a result, Muehlegg lost the gold medal he won Saturday in the men's 50K classic race and Lazutina was stripped of her gold just hours after she won it in Sunday's 30K classic.
The decision made Italy's Gabriella Paruzzi, skiing in her last Olympics, the surprise gold medalist in the women's 30K event. Stefania Belmondo, also of Italy, won silver and Bente Skari of Norway took the bronze.
Muehlegg's disqualification on the men's side makes Mikhail Ivanov of Russia the gold medalist in the 50K race, with Estonia's Andrus Veerpalu the silver medalist and Norway's Odd-Bjoern Hjelmeset the bronze winner.
News of Muehlegg's positive urine test cast a shadow of speculation over Soldier Hollow Sunday. Word that Lazutina and Danilova had also failed did not reach the course by race time, and both were allowed to start.
Lazutina's start didn't seem to bother her competitors, although she failed two medical blood tests Thursday that resulted in the disqualification of the Russian team from the women's relay. She blamed the high levels of hemoglobin in her blood on her menstrual cycle, a claim doctors say is highly unlikely.
Skiing for what she called revenge and vindication, Lazutina opened Sunday's race by immediately taking the lead.
At the 7K mark she was already 25 seconds ahead of Paruzzi in the staggered start race. By the halfway mark her lead had increased to nearly one minute, and with 10K left, the race was over—Lazutina ahead by 1 minute, 22 seconds.
American women fared well for the first time in these games. Nina Kempell, skiing in the last of her four Olympics, finished 17th, her best Olympic finish, while Park City's Wendy Wagner finished 25th.
"I think it's sad that so much attention is paid to doping, but I guess if it's going to be a clean sport we've got to have that," Wagner said. "I just try not to think about it. Thinking about it doesn't help me any."
At the press conference following the race, before the test results were known, Lazutina was defiant. She said she had been treated like a criminal, a shame for an athlete who has always been clean.
Even Belmondo, who called Lazutina's prior disqualification an embarrassment for the sport, seemed forgiving of the Russian superstar after the race.
"I don't want to talk about doping anymore," she said. "My compliments go to Larissa. She was allowed to compete, she won the gold medal, there is nothing more to say."
Turns out there was a lot more to say. Sadly for the sport of cross country skiing, its Olympic run at Soldier Hollow ended on the most sour of notes.
Lazutina won her race by nearly two minutes, an astonishing feat considering Muehlegg won a similar marathon race the previous day by a mere 14 seconds.
Sadly, the most astonishing thing about both races are the things the champions did to win them. Doctors say the drug found in their urine — which increases endurance — can not occur naturally.
Muehlegg and Lazutina don't have to give up the other medals they won in Salt Lake because there is no way to prove they were blood doping in those races. In fact, they passed the doping control tests required by their victories in those races.
Muehlegg goes home with two gold medals, Lazutina a pair of silvers. A medal Sunday would have given her 10 — a record for a female cross country skier.
Unfortunately, after what happened Sunday, few will remember them as champions.
E-MAIL: jhyde@desnews.com
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February 25, 2002
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