The Doping Scandal
Norwegian Press Clippings
By Torbjorn Karlsen

February 26, 2002

Norwegian XC Program Director, Sindre Bergan - "He cheated everyone"
(VG - O.K. Nordengen)
"It's bad - he has fooled everyone involved in cross-country skiing completely. We are sad and disappointed. It's bad for our sport, but it's good that the problem is being addressed and cleaned up."

Q: Are you sure that no Norwegians have used illegal substances?
A: I'm as sure as it's possible to be. We don't follow our athletes around the clock but we conduct so many tests that it would be very unlikely.

Q: Do you believe Muhlegg's Norwegian Coach Ola Berget when he claims that Muehlegg's doping was unknown to him?
A: Yes, I do. Muehlegg has a one-man program. Berget was more of a serviceman than a coach.

Good Memories:
"This doping case is not going to ruin everything. I have many good memories from this Olympics and there have been many fantastic performances. I'm proud of what Norwegian athletes achieved.

Muhlegg Connected with Well Known Doping Doctor ( Nettavisen)
The German newspaper Der Spiegel reports that Nicolas Torrados is the Doctor Johan Muhlegg has worked with in recent years. Torrades was convicted in 1998 following the Tour de France doping scandal. He provided the Spanish team ONCE with EPO.

Skari: They have used doping for a long time (Nettavisen)
Bente Skari is concerned on behalf of cross country skiing following the Olympic doping scandal, where her two fiercest competitors, Lazutina and Danilova, were caught for doping. "It's incredibly disappointing," says Skari to Nettavisen. When asked if she thought that they started using it recently? Her reply was a quick, "No."

Bente is angry and upset that the two Russian girls have put another thick doping cloud over XC skiing.

Skari: "I hadn't heard about this drug that supposedly is a further development of EPO. It's scary if it's put into a systematic doping system."

The Russians are complaining that they have been singled out by the doping testers, but Skari says that she has been tested 14-15 times outside competitions, and 10 times in conjunction with competitions this season.

Alsgaard angry with IOC (Nettavisen)
" It's totally unacceptable of Johann Muhlegg to use doping and it is equally unacceptable of the International Olympic committee (IOC) to let him keep two Gold medals," says Thomas Alsgaard to Norwegian Broadcasting TV 21. Thomas says that Muhlegg, Lazutina and Danilova need to hand in their medals from before they were caught for doping. I'm very happy that they were caught. I have to admit that I was very skeptical after the 30 Kilometer freestyle race. I have done this for many years, worked out hard. But the pace I saw Muhlegg race at in the 30K have I never seen before. That was 15-20 years ahead of our time. It is important that the whole support system around the skier caught for doping is punished, not only the athlete.