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Canadian skier receives gold, silver and bronze
The longest race in Olympic history finally ended Friday when Canadian
cross-country skier Beckie Scott received the gold medal for the
five-kilometre pursuit race at the 2002 Winter Games. Scott raised
the medal in her right hand and waved to the over 500 people gathered
under overcast skies outside the Vancouver Art Gallery. She flashed
a broad smile and choked back tears as the crowd sang O Canada while
a Mountie hoisted a Maple Leaf up a flag pole.
``It's a fantastic day, a great day,'' said Scott, who waited over
two years as the two Russians who finished ahead of her were stripped
of their medals for failing drug tests. ``I'm in some ways still
in disbelief it's actually here. It has been a long journey but
one that has culminated in the ultimate award.'' The International
Olympic Committee said Scott is the only athlete to be awarded all
three medals in a single event. She's also the only athlete to return
two medals from the same race.
Scott's medal means Canada won seven gold at the Salt Lake Games,
three silver and seven bronze. The toughest battle for the medal
wasn't on the Olympic course at Soldier Hollow but in courtrooms
stretching from Switzerland to Russia. Scott's fight helped rewrite
Olympic rules so any athlete caught doping at a Games loses all
their medals. During the Olympics Canadian officials also led an
offensive which resulted in figure skaters Jamie Sale and David
Pelletier being upgraded to gold.
Scott became the first North American woman to win
a cross-country Olympic medal with her third-place finish at Salt
Lake. She finished behind Russians Olga Danilova and Larissa Lazutina.
Both passed their drug tests after that race, but in a later event
tested positive for darbepoetin, which boosts the production of
red blood cells that carry oxygen to muscles. The Court of Arbitration
for Sport ruled last December that Danilova should be stripped of
the gold. Scott was upgraded to silver when it was proven Lazutina
had failed a drug test in a World Cup race prior to the Olympics.
That made her ineligible to compete at the Games. The medal was
presented in Vancouver to help promote the 2010 Winter Olympics
and because the city is the home of Haywood Securities Inc., the
national cross-country ski team's corporate sponsor.
Austrian skier Hoffmann receives gold medal two
years after race
Cross-country skier Christian Hoffmann has received his country’s
first Olympic gold medal in the sport over two years after he crossed
the finish line, an Austrian Olympic Committee official said Tuesday.
"It is a great day for Austrian winter sports," committee leader
Leo Wallner said. Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel handed the gold
to Hoffmann on Monday, 863 days after the 30-kilometre freestyle
cross country race in Salt Lake City.
"This was the greatest day of my life," Hoffmann told Austrian radio
ORF. Hoffmann, 29, was awarded the gold after Johann Muehlegg, a
German competing for Spain, was disqualified for doping on the final
day of the Games. Muehlegg tested positive for darbepoetin, a performance-enhancing
drug.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport, ruling in December on an complaint
from the Norwegian and Canadian Olympic authorities, said Muehlegg
had to give up all three of his gold medals. The court also ordered
Olga Danilova of Russia to give up her gold medal in the women’s
five-kilometre pursuit because of doping infractions. Canadian skier
Beckie Scott, 29, will receive the medal during a June 25 ceremony
in Vancouver.
It will be the second belated medal ceremony for the Vermilion, Alta., native. She had already been moved from third to second place because of a doping infraction by silver medallist Larissa Lazutina of Russia. Scott was presented with that medal last October in Calgary.
[Source: The Canadian Press]
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