Andrus Veerpalu

Andrus Veerpalu
Andrus Veerpalu in 2013
Country Estonia
Born (1971-02-08) 8 February 1971 (age 53)
Pärnu, Estonia
Height1.82 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Ski clubJõulu
World Cup career
Seasons19 – (1992–2006, 2008–2011)
Indiv. starts141
Indiv. podiums11
Indiv. wins6
Team starts28
Team podiums0
Overall titles0 – (7th in 2003, 2004)
Discipline titles0
Medal record
Men's cross-country skiing
Representing Estonia Estonia
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2002 Salt Lake City 15 km classical
Gold medal – first place 2006 Turin 15 km classical
Silver medal – second place 2002 Salt Lake City 50 km classical
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2001 Lahti 30 km classical
Gold medal – first place 2009 Liberec 15 km classical
Silver medal – second place 1999 Ramsau 50 km classical

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 km classical in 2002 and 2006, and silver in men's 50 km classical in 2002.[1]

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.

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.[2] 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.[3]

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.[4][5][6] Veerpalu appealed the test result to the FIS.[7] 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.[8] A group of top Estonian biochemists investigated the matter and insist Veerpalu was a false positive.[9][10] 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.[11]
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.[12] 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."[13]

Cross-country skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).[14]

Olympic Games

  • 3 medals – (2 gold, 1 silver)
 Year   Age   10 km  15 km  Pursuit   30 km  50 km  Sprint  4 × 10 km 
 relay  		 Team 
 sprint 
1992 21 21 — 42 44 — — 10 —
1994 23 36 — 55 — 26 — — —
1998 27 8 — DNS 19 — — 10 —
2002 31 — Gold — — Silver — 9 —
2006 35 — Gold — — — — 8 —
2010 39 — — — — 6 — — —

World Championships

  • 3 medals – (2 gold, 1 silver)
 Year   Age   10 km  15 km  Pursuit   30 km   50 km   Sprint   4 × 10 km 
 relay  		 Team 
 sprint 
1993 22 49 — 57 31 — — — —
1995 24 72 — — 30 — — — —
1997 26 32 — DNF — 39 — 11 —
1999 28 14 — DNF — Silver — 10 —
2001 30 — 5 — Gold — — 7 —
2003 32 — 8 DNF 4 — — 8 —
2005 34 — — 19 — 4 — 9 —
2009 38 — Gold 19 — — — 8 8

World Cup

Season standings

 Season   Age  Discipline standings Ski Tour standings
Overall Distance Long Distance Middle Distance Sprint Nordic
Opening 		Tour de
Ski 		World Cup
Final
1992 21 NC — — — — — — —
1993 22 NC — — — — — — —
1994 23 78 — — — — — — —
1995 24 73 — — — — — — —
1996 25 NC — — — — — — —
1997 26 74 — 60 — 59 — — —
1998 27 26 — 24 — 28 — — —
1999 28 22 — 12 — 43 — — —
2000 29 43 — 23 51 36 — — —
2001 30 42 — — — — — — —
2002 31 19 — — — NC — — —
2003 32 7 — — — — — — —
2004 33 7 6 — — 23 — — —
2005 34 13 10 — — 58 — — —
2006 35 — — — — — — — —
2008 37 50 34 — — 77 — — 22
2009 38 27 20 — — 77 — 19 —
2010 39 41 20 — — 108 — — DNF
2011 40 86 50 — — NC DNF — —

Individual podiums

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

See also

References

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ FIS-Ski.com article on Veerpalu's victory. – accessed 1 March 2009.
  3. ^ "Veerpalu Retires from Skiing On Eve of World Championships". ERR. Estonian Public Broadcasting. 23 February 2011. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ "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.
  8. ^ "FIS otsustas: Andrus Veerpalu on süüdi". Eesti Päevaleht. 23 August 2011.
  9. ^ Alaveri jätkamine peatreenerina sõltub FISi otsusest (Alaver's resumption as head coach depends on FIS's decision). Postimees
  10. ^ "Veerpalu kaitsev teadlane kritiseerib dopingutesti usutavust" (in Estonian). Postimees.
  11. ^ CAS issues decision in the case of Veerpalu International Ski Federation
  12. ^ Andrus Veerpalu v International Ski Federation (CAS 2013), Text, archived from the original.
  13. ^ "NFL Players 'Hail' Veerpalu Verdict". Estonian Public Broadcasting. 27 March 2013. Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  14. ^ "Athlete : Veerpalu Andrus". FIS-Ski. International Ski Federation. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Andrus Veerpalu.
Awards
Preceded by Estonian Male Athlete of the Year
1999 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Estonian Male Athlete of the Year
2001–2002 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Estonian Male Athlete of the Year
2006 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Estonian Male Athlete of the Year
2009 		Succeeded by