Real Winners Deserve Their Medals
By: Erik Stange

February 25, 2002

All of us here at FasterSkier.com are quite disturbed by the recent developments in cross country ski racing's latest doping scandal. The sport now has a new black eye, and it will become increasingly difficult to regain credibility with the public. What's worse is that the International Olympic Committee's current rules structure makes it impossible to strip the guilty athletes of the other medals they won during the games. The general consensus among doping experts, doctors and coaches within the sport is that Muehlegg, Lazutina and Danilova all must have used the blood enhancer NESP for an extended period of time leading up to the games. Therefore the medals they have won earlier in these Olympics were not won fairly. This is a bitter pill for all the athletes who finished behind these three. Alsgaard and Estil should now be sharing a gold medal in the men's pursuit, Hoffman should have won gold in the men's 30 km, Belmondo should have received bronze in the women's 10 km, and Becky Scott should receive gold in the women's pursuit.

On the morning of the women's 30 km race, Larissa Lazutina was seen coming out of the trailer used for hemoglobin testing with the same kind of joy that one would expect after winning the race. It is sad to see that merely passing a drug test can be equated with actually winning the race itself. Now the Russian officials are protesting the use of the test that caught these dopers, claiming that the Olympics are not the proper time to use new technology in drug testing. In essence, this argument sounds like they are demanding that athletes be adequately warned of what the tests are able to find, and which substances the athletes can get caught using.

Unfortunately, it is highly unlikely that Muehlegg, Lazutina and Danilova will admit their guilt and give up the medals that they have won through illegal means. But this does not mean that we, the fans of international skiing, cannot do something ourselves.

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As a footnote, TorbjÀrn Karlsen wrote this in September, reflecting on the role of sport in the days following the terrorist attacks on September 11th. The message sounds especially poignant now:

"I have also been reflecting on all those athletes that cheat to achieve results. I hope they finally wake up and use this event as a turning point in their career - to become clean of EPO or steroids or whatever they are using to win and to bask in the glory of stolen fame.

Now that the world has changed, in the wake of Sept. 11, athletes and coaches can contribute by making sure something good comes out of this tragedy. I think everyone should start with cleaning up their own sport. We should all commit to ensure that the Olympics and pro sports are free of cheating and drugs. If anyone is planning to compete at the 2002 Olympic games with the benefit of illegal substances, then they should come clean now or don't come at all. Winning athletes have the capacity to win without doping. The playing field would be even if cheating stopped now. It's that simple."