Over the past week, we have received many emails regarding doping. Here is a sampling of what people are saying.

If you would like to express your opinion, please send it to editorials@fasterskier.com

That said, Fischer needs to take a leadership role in the wake of the Olympic fiasco. This is certainly a situation where a huge problem can have a silver lining if, and only if, the folks on the front lines of the industry and the sport take an active role in fixing the problem. I would hope a policy of dropping a sponsored athlete for life in these situations is already in place. A two year banishment is evidently not nearly enough to deter potential gold medal winners from cheating.

Unfortunately, these skiers do represent your company. Watching Lazutina stand there with a Fischer hat on, holding Fischer skis, as she throws out lame excuses to her accusers was one of the most disappointing things I've witnessed in the sport.

In conclusion, I hope you take this public relations fiasco and turn it into an opportunity, by taking a firm and unwavering stand on blood doping, and eliminating all cheaters from your sponsored team.

Sincerely,
Doug McSpadden

P.S. - You can start by getting rid of the picture of Muelegg on your web site. He stole more than medals at Soldier Hollow.

Signed thoughts from an avid skier and proponent of clean sport.

Editor's note: Fischer, Salomon/adidas, and Swix have all terminated contracts with the skiers. Most other sponsors either have or soon will do the same.

Dear Johann,
Ski racing is much apart of my life, and I know that it is even more apart of yours. You have made it your mission to be the world's best, and for few weeks in February you convinced the world that you were. But now, the mask of greatness has been taken off. The hundreds of thousands of hours of sweat and dreams, have been wasted by greed for gold.

What are you going to do? I do not doubt that you have the potential to be the best skier in world history, but how can you rebuild yourself? Don't you think that the best way to do this would be to give back your medal, admit your that you have cheated and apologize to for what you have done?

Simon Isaacs
Middlebury College Ski Team

I strongly recommend that all sponsors as well as equipment-suppliers within the ski-industry ensure that any contract with Teams and individuals amend a clause in the agreement that prevents cheating. We are financing top teams and athletes to grow the wonderful sport of cross country skiing. We can simply not afford this situation to happen again. Good ambassadors and real heroes are fundemental to the future of our sport. We are now fighting another "fight against terror".

I also strongly feel that dopers should be banned for life from all future national and international competitions. The system of "doctors", "advisors" and "coaches" behind the doped athletes should also be penalized.

I hope and expect that the national governing bodies pressure FIS and IOC to follow this up.

Bernt Lund
ODLO Sports-group / Bjorn Daehlie technical wear

I haven't heard anyone raise this - so maybe you folks can via your site. Regardless of when the positive drug tests occurred as compared to when the medals were won didn't each of the cheaters take the Olympic oath to abide by the rules of sport and fair play? Since it has been proven that each of them broke that oath during the course of the Olympics, doesn't it seem reasonable that they should be disqualified from all of the events they competed in?

Just a thought, keep up the good fight.

Steve Thomas

I have no new contacts, but instead, a suggestion. Money talks. Pressure needs to be applied to the corporate sponsors of these cheaters to stand up and do the right thing. Fischer, Swix, Adidas, Salomon, etc. need to demand to the IOC, FIS, WADA, that these athletes be stripped of their medals and the true athletes awarded what is rightfully theirs. How about including links to the major ski equipment companies so that we can ask them to join with all of the REAL athletes in demanding that the integrity of the Winter Games & the sport of cross country skiing be restored now. Anything less by the ski companies is simply unacceptable.

Phil Lyon

Here is a copy of a letter I sent to O.C. Tanner, the company that minted the medals handed out in Salt Lake.
Jerry McMahan Waterbury, Vermont

Hello,

As a former Salt Lake resident, I lived near your offices (1700 S.) and drove by them daily. I always admired the gardens on the State St. side of your headquarters.

But this letter, unfortunately, is about something less attractive. I'm sure you have read about the doping scandal in the cross country events. Three athletes were ejected from the games after failing drug tests. However, they were allowed to keep medals won before they tested positive. Two of these skiers finished 1-2 in the women's pursuit event. The 3rd place finisher in that event, Beckie Scott of Canada, had the best finish by a North American skier in 26 years.

It is now apparent that Beckie is the legitimate gold medalist. Due to technicalities in the rules, she will likely never get the medal she deserves. Since your company produced the medals, it would be a small matter to produce one more gold medal and send it to Beckie Scott. It would probably have to be issued with an 'asterisk', but a lot of people would appreciate the gesture nonetheless. If cost is a concern, contact me and I will raise the money, but I don't believe this will be a problem. If you contact the Utah Nordic Alliance (www.utahnordic.com), I guarantee you will have more donations than you can use. This small gesture on your part can help to right a great wrong.

Thanks for your consideration,
Jerry McMahan

It is clear that neither the Russians nor Muehlegg learned anything from the scandal at Lahti. More importantly it appears that there are still loopholes in the doping regulations . I have never reviewed the IOC regulations on cheating and doping but, based on what has happened, it appears that they do not go far enough . The information I have seen on the ‹newþ drug of choice indicates that it‰s results come after a period of use. This strongly suggests that the previous performances of the ‹cheaters ‹ were aided by the drug. Just watching those performances leads to the same conclusion now that we know what was done .

The IOC is apparently playing by it‰s rules while these athletes and their coaches try to find ways around them or avoid ‹crossing the lineþ. Until the penalties are stiff enough there will always be coaches,athletes and support staff willing to take the risk that they will not be tested or that the method of cheating will not be detected. Until the rules are tough enough to disrupt careers and recognize and reward ‹clean ‹ competition we will never have the satisfaction of watching a spectacular performance without having to wonder whether the winner cheated. Nice example for the up and coming skiers and athletes.

.Thanks Larissa, Olga and Johan. Maybe you ought to think about voluntarily turning in those medals or better yet maybe your national sports federation ought to turn them back with their deepest apologies.

Joe Hoida

Hi from Russia!
I strongly agree with Torbjorn Karlsen. All who use doping may not take part in competitions. But why any competitors who using drugs may not take part in competitions (Muelhlegg, Danilova, Lazutina, ?) and others who take protected drugs for asthma (Bjorndalen, Alsgaard, ?) are absolutely legal? Is it fair for Olympic Games? It is hypocrisy! I indeed support drug free competitions!
Fyodor Ryzhov.
Master skier from Russia.

I could not agree more with your assessment of Muehlegg, et al. They should be stripped of all medals and banned not just from the remainder of these games, which means nothing, but from Torino as well. (Not that this means much to Lazutina or Danilova.) Further, a two year suspension from FIS events is not nearly enough to discourage dopers. For instance, three years ago cyclist Marco Pantani was tossed from the Giro d'Italia for a high red blood cell count. Like Lazutina in the relay, Pantani was not guilty of any particular abuse, his count was just too high for him to safely compete. But, later it was discovered from various medcial records that Pantani's count had a history of wide fluctutations. So, he was charged criminally with the crime of sporting fraud. Ultimately, nothing became of these charges, ie. he beat the rap in court.

Nonetheless, I think that criminal charges are the way to go, and here's why. I attended the 30km Freestyle where Muehlegg just decimated the field. It was thrilling to see a man at the height of "his fitness" perform at such a high level . Likewise, it was thrilling to see the Hoffamn-Botvinov group fight it out for Silver and Bronze [editor's note: this letter was written before the Austrian medical supply story broke]. On the other hand, it was so disappointing to see Alsgaard and Eloffson suffer. In the end, we observed Muehlegg garner all of the attention. We cheered him, respecting his phenomenal performance. But now we know that Muehlegg stole the Olympic moment. For instance, I paid admission to see athletes, having taken an oath to compete fairly, do just that. So when Muehelgg stepped to the line, he represented himself as a clean athlete, and we accepted him as one. But perhaps more important, this bargain was made with all of the other competitors. Muehlegg, however, was not clean. All along he knew that he was using a blood doping product that would give him a clear performance advantage over the other athletes. And as I look back, I can only wonder how different would the results be if Muehlegg had not been doping -- would Eloffson have blown up and quit, would Alsgaard have hung on to the Hoffman group if he had not expended so much trying to follow early in the race? True, the Hoffman group played it smart, letting Muehlegg go and limiting their anaerobic losses in order to battle for Silver and Bronze. Surely, there would be a certain measure of justice to awarding them Gold and Silver and Skjedal a Bronze. But still, we will never know how the race would have unfolded if Muehlegg had not perpetrated his fraud. Muehlegg is more than a cheater. He is a thief. He stole an Olympic moment not only from those who came to watch the world's best, but he aslo stole an Olympic event from his fellow competitors. Hence, Muehlegg is a fraud, and he should be treated as such.

Lance Webster