Andrus Veerpalu

Andrus Veerpalu
Andrus Veerpalu
	Veerpalu in 2013
Full name	Andrus Veerpalu
Born	8 February 1971 (age 50); Pärnu, Estonia
Height	1.82 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Ski club	Jõulu
World Cup career
Seasons	1990–2011
Individual wins	6
Indiv. podiums	11
hide Medal record
Men's cross country skiing
Representing Estonia
Olympic Games
World Championships

Andrus Veerpalu (born 8 February 1971) is a retired Estonian cross-country skier. He is Estonia's most successful Winter Olympian, having won the gold medal in men's 15 kilometre classical in 2002 and 2006, and silver in men's 50 kilometre classical in 2002.

Career[]

On 17 February 2006 Veerpalu won his second Winter Olympics gold medal (in 15 km cross country skiing; his previous gold medal is from the Salt Lake City games), becoming the fourth Estonian to have won two Olympic gold medals (Kristjan Palusalu, Erika Salumäe and Kristina Šmigun-Vähi are the first three). He is the most successful Olympic athlete from Estonia with three medals. (Kristina Šmigun-Vähi tied that record at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics)

Veerpalu has also found success at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, winning a gold at 15 km in 2009 at Liberec, 30 km in 2001 at Lahti and a silver at 50 km in 1999 at Ramsau. He has also won the 50 km event at the Holmenkollen ski festival in 2003 and 2005. Veerpalu also competed in the men's 50 km, Mass Start Classic at the 2010 Winter Olympics, finishing at the 6th place.

Andrus Veerpalu became the oldest world champion in history with his victory at Liberec 2009 on the 15 km classical event. He was then 38 years old.^[1] He is also the oldest Olympic champion in individual distance.

Veerpalu earned the Holmenkollen medal in 2005, the first Estonian to do so.

Veerpalu is the fourth athlete to compete in cross-country skiing at six Winter Olympics, after Marja-Liisa Kirvesniemi, Harri Kirvesniemi, and Jochen Behle. (Kateřina Neumannová is also a cross-country skier who competed at six Olympics, but one of her appearances was in cycling.)

On 23 February 2011, Veerpalu announced that he will end his professional sportsman career due to a chronic knee injury.^[2]

Doping case acquittal[]

Several months after Veerpalu's retirement it was announced that he had tested positive for HGH (growth hormone), however he had pleaded innocent in HGH treatment. Estonian biochemistry doctors explained that the verdict was untimely and that there was no reliable method to distinguish artificial HGH from natural background hormone.^[3]^[4]^[5] Veerpalu appealed the test result to the FIS.^[6] The FIS antidoping commission found Veerpalu guilty and extended his ban to three years, due to Veerpalu's team's lack of co-operation with FIS.^[7] A group of top Estonian biochemists investigated the matter and insist Veerpalu was a false positive.^[8]^[9] The Court of Arbitration for Sport acquitted Veerpalu, lifted his doping ban and ordered the FIS to pay a part of Veerpalu's court costs on 25 March 2013.^[10]
The court stated "that there are many factors in this case which tend to indicate that the Athlete did in fact himself administer exogenous hGH" but found that the decision limit, the threshold for considering the result an adverse analytical finding, was not sufficiently reliable to uphold the doping conviction.^[11] Krista Fischer, a senior researcher for the Estonian Genome Center, questioned what these unexplained factors hinted at by CAS could be: "So what were these factors? Right now the only numbers that seem to hint at doping are the same four numbers that have been ruled invalid."^[12]

World Cup results[]

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).^[13]

Individual podiums[]

6 victories
11 podiums

No.	Season	Date	Location	Race	Level	Place
1	1998–99	28 February 1999	Ramsau, Austria	50 km Individual C	World Championships^[1]	2nd
2	2002–03	12 January 2003	Otepää, Estonia	30 km Mass Start C	World Cup	3rd
3		15 February 2003	Asiago, Italy	10 km Individual C	World Cup	1st
4		8 March 2003	Oslo, Norway	50 km Individual C	World Cup	1st
5	2003–04	13 December 2003	Davos, Switzerland	15 km Individual C	World Cup	1st
6		16 December 2003	Val di Fiemme, Italy	1.2 km Sprint C	World Cup	3rd
7		17 January 2004	Nové Město, Czech Republic	15 km Individual C	World Cup	1st
8		16 December 2003	Lahti, Finland	15 km Individual C	World Cup	3rd
9	2004–05	8 January 2005	Otepää, Estonia	15 km Individual C	World Cup	1st
10	2004–05	12 March 2005	Oslo, Norway	50 km Individual C	World Cup	1st
11	2009–10	16 January 2010	Otepää, Estonia	15 km Individual C	World Cup	2nd

Note: ¹ Until the 1999 World Championships, World Championship races were included in the World Cup scoring system.

Personal life[]

He is married to Angela Veerpalu and they have five children.

References[]

^ FIS-Ski.com article on Veerpalu's victory. – accessed 1 March 2009.
^ "Veerpalu Retires from Skiing On Eve of World Championships". ERR. Estonian Public Broadcasting. 23 February 2011. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
^ Erik Rand. "Doktor Laasik: Veerpalu dopinguproovi tulemustes võib kahelda" [Doctor Laasik: One may doubt in the results of Veerpalu's doping test] (in Estonian). Eesti Päevaleht. Archived from the original on 10 April 2011. Retrieved 7 April 2011.
^ Priit Luts, Oliver Kahu. "Biokeemik: tehis- ja loomulikku hormooni on raske eristada" [Biochemist: Artificial and natural hormone is difficult to distinguish]. Eesti Rahvusringhääling. Archived from the original on 11 April 2011.
^ Tartu Ülikooli professor: Veerpalu dopingupatuseks nimetamine on ennatlik (Professor of the University of Tartu: It is untimely to condemn Veerpalu as guilty in doping) Archived 12 April 2011 at the Wayback Machine Eesti Päevaleht
^ "VIDEO: Vandeadvokaat Aivar Pilv: vajadusel lähme arbitraažikohtusse" [Attorney Aivar Pilv: If necessary, we will to go to the Court of Arbitration]. sport.delfi.ee. 7 April 2011.
^ "FIS otsustas: Andrus Veerpalu on süüdi". Eesti Päevaleht. 23 August 2011.
^ Alaveri jätkamine peatreenerina sõltub FISi otsusest (Alaver's resumption as head coach depends on FIS's decision). Postimees
^ "Veerpalu kaitsev teadlane kritiseerib dopingutesti usutavust" (in Estonian). Postimees.
^ CAS issues decision in the case of Veerpalu International Ski Federation
^ Andrus Veerpalu v International Ski Federation (CAS 2013).Text
^ "NFL Players 'Hail' Veerpalu Verdict". Estonian Public Broadcasting. 27 March 2013. Retrieved 28 March 2013.
^ "Athlete : Veerpalu Andrus". FIS-Ski. International Ski Federation. Retrieved 14 March 2018.

External links[]

Andrus Veerpalu at the International Ski Federation
Holmenkollen medalists at the Wayback Machine (archived February 24, 2007) – click Holmenkollmedaljen for downloadable pdf file (in Norwegian)
Holmenkollen winners since 1892 at the Wayback Machine (archived February 24, 2007) – click Vinnere for downloadable pdf file (in Norwegian)
Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Andrus Veerpalu". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020.
13. June 2012, Veerpalu Court Hearing Ends Today, Estonian Public Broadcasting News
28. August 2012, Veerpalu Appeal Decision Delayed, Estonian Public Broadcasting News
28. February 2013, Judgement Day for Veerpalu Doping Case: Result Expected Shortly, Estonian Public Broadcasting News
28. February 2013, Decision in Veerpalu Doping Case Postponed, The ruling will now come on March 25, ETV reported, Estonian Public Broadcasting News
Lausanne, 1 March 2013, Court of Arbitration for Sport: VEERPALU/FIS CASE: DECISION POSTPONED TO 25 MARCH 2013
Estonian Public Broadcasting: 25. March 2013, Veerpalu Decision Expected (Again)
26.03.2013, The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS): CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING - CASE VEERPALU/ FIS: APPEAL UPHELD, tas-cas.org
FIS-Ski: CAS issues decision in the case of Veerpalu, fis-ski.com
Lausanne, 26 March 2013, The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) MEDIA RELEASE, CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING, CASE VEERPALU/FIS
CAS 2011/A/2566 Andrus Veerpalu v. International Ski Federation, ARBITRAL AWARD

Awards
Preceded by Erki Nool	Estonian Male Athlete of the Year 1999	Succeeded by Erki Nool
Preceded by Erki Nool	Estonian Male Athlete of the Year 2001–2002	Succeeded by Andrus Värnik
Preceded by Andrus Värnik	Estonian Male Athlete of the Year 2006	Succeeded by Gerd Kanter
Preceded by Gerd Kanter	Estonian Male Athlete of the Year 2009	Succeeded by Nikolai Novosjolov

[1] FIS-Ski.com article on Veerpalu's victory. – accessed 1 March 2009.

[2] "Veerpalu Retires from Skiing On Eve of World Championships". ERR. Estonian Public Broadcasting. 23 February 2011. Retrieved 9 May 2015.

[epl-3] Erik Rand. "Doktor Laasik: Veerpalu dopinguproovi tulemustes võib kahelda" [Doctor Laasik: One may doubt in the results of Veerpalu's doping test] (in Estonian). Eesti Päevaleht. Archived from the original on 10 April 2011. Retrieved 7 April 2011.

[sedman-4] Priit Luts, Oliver Kahu. "Biokeemik: tehis- ja loomulikku hormooni on raske eristada" [Biochemist: Artificial and natural hormone is difficult to distinguish]. Eesti Rahvusringhääling. Archived from the original on 11 April 2011.

[5] Tartu Ülikooli professor: Veerpalu dopingupatuseks nimetamine on ennatlik (Professor of the University of Tartu: It is untimely to condemn Veerpalu as guilty in doping) Archived 12 April 2011 at the Wayback Machine Eesti Päevaleht

[arbit-6] "VIDEO: Vandeadvokaat Aivar Pilv: vajadusel lähme arbitraažikohtusse" [Attorney Aivar Pilv: If necessary, we will to go to the Court of Arbitration]. sport.delfi.ee. 7 April 2011.

[7] "FIS otsustas: Andrus Veerpalu on süüdi". Eesti Päevaleht. 23 August 2011.

[8] Alaveri jätkamine peatreenerina sõltub FISi otsusest (Alaver's resumption as head coach depends on FIS's decision). Postimees

[kõks-9] "Veerpalu kaitsev teadlane kritiseerib dopingutesti usutavust" (in Estonian). Postimees.

[10] CAS issues decision in the case of Veerpalu International Ski Federation

[11] Andrus Veerpalu v International Ski Federation (CAS 2013).Text

[12] "NFL Players 'Hail' Veerpalu Verdict". Estonian Public Broadcasting. 27 March 2013. Retrieved 28 March 2013.

[FISprofile-13] "Athlete : Veerpalu Andrus". FIS-Ski. International Ski Federation. Retrieved 14 March 2018.

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[1]

show v t Holmenkollen Medal
Until 1900	1895: Viktor Thorn (NOR) 1897: Asbjørn Nilssen (NOR) 1899: Paul Braaten (NOR), Robert Pehrson (NOR)
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Since 2001	2001: Adam Małysz (POL), Bente Skari (NOR), Thomas Alsgaard (NOR) 2003: Felix Gottwald (AUT), Ronny Ackermann (GER) 2004: Yuliya Chepalova (RUS) 2005: Andrus Veerpalu (EST) 2007: Frode Estil (NOR), Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset (NOR), Harald V (NOR), Sonja (NOR), Simon Ammann (SUI) 2010: Marit Bjørgen (NOR) 2011: Ole Einar Bjørndalen (NOR), Michael Greis (GER), Andrea Henkel (GER), Janne Ahonen (FIN) 2012: Magdalena Neuner (GER), Emil Hegle Svendsen (NOR) 2013: Tora Berger (NOR), Martin Fourcade (FRA), Therese Johaug (NOR), Gregor Schlierenzauer (AUT) 2014: Magnus Moan (NOR), Eric Frenzel (GER), Thomas Morgenstern (AUT), Darya Domracheva (BLR) 2015: Eldar Rønning (NOR), Anders Bardal (NOR), Anette Sagen (NOR), Kamil Stoch (POL) 2016: Noriaki Kasai (JPN), Tarjei Bø (NOR) 2017: Marie Dorin-Habert (FRA), Sara Takanashi (JPN) 2018: Charlotte Kalla (SWE), Princess Astrid (NOR), Hannu Manninen (FIN), Kaisa Mäkäräinen (FIN)