Harri Tapani Kirvesniemi (born 10 May 1958) is a Finnish former cross-country skier who competed from 1980 to 2001. During his career he won six Olympic medals (all bronzes), and also the 50 km event at the Holmenkollen ski festival in 2000. He retired after being caught doping at the 2001 World Championship in Lahti.
Career
His biggest successes though were at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, where he earned a total of eight medals. This included one gold (15 km: 1989), three silvers (4 × 10 km relay: 1989, 1995. 1997), and four bronzes (15 km: 1982, 30 km: 1985, 4 × 10 km relay: 1982 (shared with East Germany), 1991). In 1998, he earned the Holmenkollen medal (shared with Fred Børre Lundberg, Larissa Lazutina, and Alexey Prokurorov). He was married to Marja-Liisa Kirvesniemi, who won the Holmenkollen medal in 1989. This makes them the third husband-wife team to ever win the Holmenkollen medal.
During the 2001 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Lahti, he tested positive for use of the banned plasma expander Hemohes together with five fellow Finnish cross-country skiers. This resulted in the disqualification of the gold-medal winning Finnish relay team. Following the scandal, Kirvesniemi retired from competitive skiing. In 2013, he received a 6-month suspended sentence after the Helsinki District Court found that he had committed perjury when witnessing to the court in 2011 that he was unaware of any doping use in the 1990s.
Presently Kirvesniemi works as the Plant Manager and Board Member at Yoko Ski.
Cross-country skiing results
All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).
Olympic Games
- 6 medals – (6 bronze)
World Championships
- 8 medals – (1 gold, 3 silver, 4 bronze)
World Cup
Season standings
Individual podiums
- 6 victories
- 16 podiums
Team podiums
- 7 victories
- 23 podiums
See also
- List of sportspeople sanctioned for doping offences
- List of athletes with the most appearances at Olympic Games
- List of multiple Olympic medalists in one event
References
External links
- Harri Kirvesniemi at the International Ski and Snowboard Federation
- Harri Kirvesniemi at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
- Holmenkollen medalists – click Holmenkollmedaljen for downloadable pdf file (in Norwegian)
- Holmenkollen winners since 1892 – click Vinnere for downloadable pdf file (in Norwegian)
