Cross-country Skiing at The 2002 Winter Olympics

Cross-country Skiing At The 2002 Winter Olympics

The cross-country skiing events at the 2002 Winter Olympics were marred by drug problems. The winners of three races were disqualified after blood tests showed that three skiers had overly high red blood cell counts indicating the use of darbepoetin, a drug used to treat anemia. At the time, the drug was not specifically listed in the IOC's list of banned substances, but the Olympic rules generally prohibit doping of any kind, in accordance with its charter. After two years and several lawsuits in Olympic and Swiss courts, the skiers in question (Johann Mühlegg of Spain, and Larissa Lazutina and Olga Danilova of Russia) were stripped of all their medals from the 2002 Games.

See the external links below for the official IOC press releases containing detailed information of the doping cases and their resolution, including initial, intermediate, and final amended results. This article gives the final medalists as decided on by the IOC in early 2004.