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Rasanen was given a 12-month suspended sentence for failing to tell the truth about the use of doping while Vahasoyrinki was given a 9-month suspended sentence. It is not known at this time whether or not they will appeal the verdict. Two other defendants, Jari Piiranen and Antti Leppavouri, were acquitted of the same offence.
The investigation involved a libel case against the Finnish news agency, STT, brought by the defendants who claimed that a 1998 story by reporter Johanna Aatsalo and editor Kari Vaisanen was false. The two were found guilty of libel and originally received suspended prison sentences that were later revoked for fines upon appeal.
This brings to a close one of the long and sordid chapters about doping in cross-country skiing. This story includes the positive tests of six skiers at the 2001 Lahti World Championships and the loss of four medals, the admission of skiers Mykka Myllyla that he used EPO, another admission by national level xc skier Sami Heiskanen, and the positive EPO test result of Kaisa Varis in 2003.
The positive tests in 2001 in Lahti ushered in the first big steps forward in the fight against doping in xc skiing. Up until that time there had been no real testing or even will to test, in a sport that was ripe for the use of EPO and blood doping – and full of rumours of “dirty” athletes.
These results were followed in 2002 by the positive results at the Olympics in Salt Lake City for the use of EPO by Spanish skier Johann Mulhegg and Russian skiers Olga Danilova and Larissa Lazutina. The latter two positive tests resulted in Beckie Scott moving from a bronze medal to her rightful gold medal in the 10km women’s pursuit race.
Since that time there have been many more positive doping tests in cross-country skiing. As a result we have seen a drop in the formerly powerful Russian team and a rise in the North American teams from Canada and the US who are now able to compete on a much more level playing field than was possible in the 1980s and 1990s.
Doping has not been fully eradicated from cross-country ski racing and it likely never will be. However, there is much more testing and attention being paid to doping by sports governing bodies like the IOC, FIS and WADA. This means that young skiers with talent and the motivation to work hard have a much better chance to compete and succeed at the highest levels of the sport.
Catching more people doping can be seen as a black mark for a sport, but I don’t agree. The more skiers that are caught the better the sport will be in the long run.
Having coached internationally during the 1980s and 1990s I believe that this era was the so-called black mark for the sport of cross-country skiing. Doping was rampant at this time and no one was caught. Skiers not doping at this time had little or no chance to succeed. Looking back at this time it makes the results of athletes like Pierre Harvey and Bill Koch even more impressive.
If you look at the results from Finland since 2001 you can see the impact of the increased vigilance against doping. The Finnish results dropped sharply after 2001 and have stayed relatively poor until recently. Even now they do not have the steady top results that they had in the 1980s and 1990s under coaches like Pekka Vahasoyrinki.
Most of their best results from the late 1980s and 1990s were by skiers who were caught doping in 2001 and it makes you wonder just how long they had been doping before they were caught. It is my hope that skiers and coaches who are tempted by doping in the future will look at the results of trials like this STT trial and this case will be a deterrent for them to use doping to get ahead. Eventually the truth will come out because a secret is not a secret if more than one person knows about it.
Read more HERE.
July 3rd, 2011 at 10:40 pm
Jack—one of the interesting things you’ve written—“Up until that time there had been no real testing or even will to test, in a sport that was ripe for the use of EPO and blood doping – and full of rumors of “dirty” athletes.” —is so true. When I made my accusations in ’88 in Calgary about the Russians and their doping situation as it was occurring—-I had buttonholed Abbi Hoffman, head of Sport Canada, and Dr Andy Pipe, leader of Canada’s anti-doping efforts, pre-Calgary and was turned very strongly aside in my discussions and comments to them about the state of doping in our sport, as if I was “deaf, dumb and blind”.
Do you know what the testing protocol for testing the Russians in Calgary was, that was performed on them and stated the were clean—–yes, they were checked for injection sites on there bodies. Yes, that was the state of formal testing for blood doping at that time—needle marks. Oh, yes, EPO was now out there—and with the medical and technical teams the Russians had running these doping programs—I’m sure EPO was the drug of choice—-the Russians were well past the old fashion way.
The comeuppance for both Abbi, Pipe and the COA President Roger Jackson was the outcome of Canada’s biggest doping fiasco in Seoul, Korea at the ’88 Summer Olympics, when Coach Charlie France’s top doper, Ben Johnson was caught after his Olympic record dash in the 100 meters. About $$$ 5 million dollars later—it was called the Dubin Inquiry—as the sport officialdom and government looked into this big time.
Those are days and times that all of the above mentioned officials would like to forget about and I’m quite surprised that they are never referenced.
Just think of all the US and Canadian skiers and programs that were screwed during these years—not right—-and there is still a lot of ass-dragging going on.
The 4 year sanction is on the books—has the approval of the IOC and WADA but has only been put on the books in one sport—-weight lifting. Where is skiing—-our xc representative from NA to WADA has taken a neutral stance it seems at this time in pushing FIS to make this move. The sanction is now 2 years old and no one is moving on it—-this is how the ski politicians have been ever since the beginning—they are not responsible to the honest skiers—they have been protecting the cheats ever since the early 70s.
Why am I so bitter—we had less back in those day—but, it was just like these days—get the results and you get the money—you all know how OTP works—-get the podiums and you get the money—–we got screwed by the Russians, the East Germans, the Czechs, all the other Iron Curtain countries I didn’t name and the Italians, and the Fins for sure. So, sorry about that—less dollars for your programs again this year—you missed being up there in results.
It actually makes me prouder of all those skiers and how hard they fought for all those years both in the US and Canada.
Enough pissing and moaning for now—those Fins deserve the black marks.
July 4th, 2011 at 4:12 am
Do you know how many athletes and programs the US T&F teams screwed during the last 30 years? Do you know that anytime when doping is brought up in American Football and baseball, the vast majority of the fans say: ‘Who cares,’ or ‘baseball is boring without PED’s, we wouldn’t have the home run history chasers without them..’ Do you know that Floyd Landis, Tyler Hamilton, Lance Amstrong, Levi Leipheimer, George Hincapie and Phil Zajicek all failed dope tests, have confessed, have served a doping ban and/or have been implicated in a doping scandal? You definitely got one thing right though, you are one bitter dude. I have one question though, and have asked a couple of times in my previous posts, wouldn’t you say that there is as much doping in Western countries such as the US as there are in Eastern countries such as Russia? You seem to shut up when I bring in valid links/sources. Have you heard of Operacion Puerto, the Freiburg Clinic, the Vienna Clinic, BALCO, Michele Ferrari, Chris Carmichael, Greg Anderson, etc? Do Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds ring any bells? How about Lyle Alzado, Jose Canseco, Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, Jason Giambi, Rafael Palmeiro and Sammy Sosa? Stop acting like doping is only a problem in one specific area of the world. It’s everywhere and has been everywhere for decades. The US team still struggles to find medals in today’s ski competitions, who are we gonna put the blame on now? Norwegians? Swedes? Germans? The French? Dario Cologna? Petra Majdic? Philip Boit….?
July 4th, 2011 at 2:32 pm
This story all along has been about the Finnish doping scandal in Nordic skiing. Marty’s reply is about reflecting on how many clean skiers were ripped off by the drug cheats in Nordic skiing. In what way does the conduct of professional baseball players or cyclists connect to this narrative? Are you saying that since Armstrong and Bonds are drug cheats, then that excuses the rest of the world from their cheating? Should Becky return her medal to the Russian drug cheats since Ben Johnson was also a drug cheat and a Canadian?
Is cheating going on all over? Well D’uh. I don’t see at all how bringing up all these examples of cheating in other sports invalidates the FACT that the Russians and other nations were cheating at Nordic skiing. Charlie Francis got the biggest punishment because he was unrepentant about his cheating (much of which he learned from the East Germans if I remember correctly). You seem to fit the same mould – “there are drug cheats in every sport, therefore, stop pointing fingers at the cheats in Nordic skiing”. Your attitude is WHY people like Jack and Marty are so bitter and so right to continue to push for cleaning up Nordic skiing.
Dave.
July 4th, 2011 at 4:23 pm
Dave, nope, there is no excuse, I am just pointing out that Marty has some beef with certain countries and certain parts of the world. If I had no problem with doping, chances are I would not be commenting here. I just want the guy to stop pointing fingers at certain countries. Of course the Russians had problems with doping, I don’t know to what extent, because I wasn’t around, but I am just pointing out that there is a bit of hypocriticism when it comes to doping in the sports world. Just like the Americans like to point out that the “Eastern Countries” or any other part of the world was doping, because they were winning all the medals, the Eastern Countries do the same, I’ve heard both sides. Spanish countries are doing the same now, and are crying foul play whenever their athletes/teams get caught doping, and if you have been following world sport the last 5 years, you would know they get in trouble on a seemingly weekly basis.
It sounds to me from Mr. Hall’s perspective, that at least half of the field was doping. Since Bill Koch, do you know how many medals the American team won in the Olympics/WSC? 1. If we were to again blame others, they would have to be Scandinavians, Germans, Swiss, etc. Unless they were/are doping too, you can’t use that excuse anymore. I am not saying don’t blame Nordic Skiing. I feel like we should blame Nordic Skiing, but we shouldn’t be pointing fingers at Russian, Italians, Czechs, etc. My attitude IS to fight doping. The question is, how far are sports governing bodies willing to go to fight the doping. Think UCI, FIS, WADA, FIFA, MLB, etc. I do swerve from Nordic Skiing to other sports to show that “Iron Curtain” countries aren’t the only ones with doping history. To answer your question about Beckie Scott, no, I don’t think she should return her medal. Perhaps she should have gotten more medals at SLC and Val di Fiemme/Torino, because if what Mr. Hall is pointing out is true, then all the Italians and Germans should return their medals, because they too, were doped to the gills. Think Belmondo, Paruzzi, Sachenbacher, Kuenzel, etc.
BTW, Mr. Hall, Yugoslavia was never an “Iron Curtain” country. It had nothing to do with the Soviets or other Communist countries. It was a neutral country that fought with the allies and when WWII ended, it became a 2nd Switzerland, sort of speak. If you compare that country to others, it would be something like a mini-US or Swedish/German/French model. I don’t know where you got that crazy idea from, but you need to get it out of your head because it is totally false. The Sarajevo Olympics were held near a big army base, that’s why you saw the soldiers that you did, plus I think it is required for such a large, international event to have tight security. You need to brush up on your history before you make statements that you’ve been making for as long as I’ve read skitrax magazine. It would be like me suggesting that the United States is an evil country and that I should hate everything about it because it has a tendency to involve itself in a lot of conflicts. Sorry to your readers for that random rant, but I’ve just had to say it here, because to me it seems like a lot of your comments/rants/spiels have as much to do with political, ethnic, and geographic issues as they do sporting issues, and that’s sad.
July 6th, 2011 at 1:03 pm
Federer—where was there any reference to Yugoslavia in my post above—none that I can find—and you references to it’s not being a communist state and being neutral are very erroneous from the research I have done—I hope wikipedia is a good enough source for you. From 1963 until 1991 the government in power was COMMUNIST (voted in)—-I dislike history and this was the most reading I’ve done in the area since college—-maybe even high school—-this was a country in turmoil for ever—-please find me a reference to neutrailty ever being established during the years I would be referencing—–the 80s and early 90s. Good luck!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslavia
Your comments about the 84 games are also erroneous—first of all you were not there—-I was (in 83 and 84) and I know what the military presence was all about—it was not some casual soldiers walking around with weapons from the near by base—it was a military presence everywhere—be it just troops deployed, as I did state in another post earlier this year, every 100 to 200 meters or a line of sight deployment on every race course. Military vechicles at every intersection when driving from the venue to Sarajevo and a city that could have passed as a military parking lot when seeing tanks, and all kinds of other armed vehicles everywhere.
This was still a communist state at this time—-paper work to get into and out of the country was mountainous—documenting everything—2 way radios—you talk about dealing with paper work and the officialdom (which strangely looked like the military) was mind boggling.
I will be dealing with your other comments in another e-mail.
Happy Reading!!
I hope your history of YUGOSLAVIA is clearer now and more in line with what actually took place.
Talk to you soon.
July 8th, 2011 at 11:33 pm
You have no idea what you are talking about. You’ve never lived in that country. I am assuming you’ve only lived in the US and/or Canada. It was a Communist country, but it was nothing of the like that you mentioned. I mention this to you because you wrote a disguisting piece on the Sarajevo olympics back in 2001 or so. That piece had nothing to do with sports, the olympic festivities and friendship, fairplay, etc. It was all about how bad the lodging was, how bad the food was, how there were soldiers on every street corner, etc. What were you expecting? Big Macs? KFC? Peanut Butter and Jelly? Playboy Magazines in your drawers?
Tanks, eh? Really? Mmkay. Perhaps they knew that one Marty Hall was attending so they needed extra security at the city. At the time, or from 1945-1992, to have a Yugoslavian passport was like having a US passport. You could travel anywhere. You want to talk about getting paperwork? Go to any of the 27 EU countries, and you’ll see what European bureaucracy is all about. I don’t want this to take away anymore space than it already has, but I just wanted to debate your “Glenn Beck/Rush Limbaugh/Joseph McCarthyisms.” The country was never in turmoil until a nationalist government took over in Serbia in the late 80’s. The government that the US ‘took down’ in the late 90’s. The country was a federation of 6 states, much like Canadian provinces, with their own state rules along with the federal rules. It wasn’t perfect, but it was far from anything any other Easter European country had. There were no tanks that roamed city squares like Budapest, Buchuresti, Prague, Warsaw, Moscow, etc. You are lying, and you know it. Do you know what hardcore anti-Communists are called? Fascists. Typical right wing propaganda. What took place in Yugoslavia was much more in line with todays Sweden, Canada, France. You could travel anywhere and everywhere with a Yugoslavian passport. You are not gonna lecture me on this as I am not gonna lecture your abilities as a former national team coach, even though I have no idea how someone with your temperament and sexist tendencies could ever be a coach on the US team, but that’s another topic for a different time. Google the history of Yugoslavia and you’ll find TONS of information, heck, you can even go to a place called a LIBRARY and do some quick searching there. The fact that you dislike history and that was the most research you’ve done since college says it all. I knew what I was dealing with the moment I saw that statement. You don’t know jack, you refuse to do meaningful research and you act like you know everything about someone or someplace by just spending a week or two at the place. Typical. Keep them pointing straight ahead…or to the right…
July 10th, 2011 at 12:30 pm
Federer—you lose.