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Curtain drops on Olympics as drug cheats booted out
( 2002-02-25 11:19 ) (7 )

The International Olympic Committee brought the curtain down on the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City on Sunday by kicking out three skiers and issuing a blunt warning to others on the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

Triple gold medallist Johann Muhlegg, a German who skies for Spain, Russian Larissa Lazutina, a gold medallist, and teammate Olga Danilova, were expelled for using a blood doping substance so new it has yet to figure on the IOC list of banned substances.

"There are new substances, there are new methods. We are tackling this very seriously and we think this is a very strong message to athletes -- beware!" said IOC Director General Francois Carrard.

Carrard had called an emergency IOC press conference to announce the sanctions, apologizing that the briefing clashed with the last gold medal contest of the games -- the ice hockey final won by Canada against the United States.

Canada laid to rest their Olympic jinx and won their first hockey title in 50 years with a satisfying 5-2 win over arch-rival the United States.

"I'm happy for the Canadian people. They waited a long time for this," said team general manager Wayne Gretzky. "The Canadian people are probably having a great time coast to coast."

All three drug cheats expelled from the Games are nordic cross country skiers, engaged in a sport that places heavy demands on an athlete's ability to endure. All three tested positive to the same substance, Darbepoetin, a drug that boosts the body's supply of oxygen to muscles.

Muhlegg, 31, was ordered to hand back Saturday's 50km gold medal but was allowed to keep two others he won prior to the doping test.

Lazutina, 36, was forced to give up Sunday's 30km gold, but allowed to keep silver medals from the 15km freestyle and the 10km combined race. Danilova, 31, keeps her silver from the combined and a gold in the women's cross country pursuit.

Muhlegg won the 30km race on February 9, the individual pursuit on February 14, and the 50km classic race on Saturday.

In his first reaction to Spanish radio, Mulhegg said: "I was tested many times during the World Cup this year. At the Olympics, four times, and no problem. Then came this surprise test on February 21. I can't understand the results. I am awaiting the B-sample result."

President of the Spanish National Olympic Committee Alfredo Goyeneche cautioned against a rush to condemn Muhlegg.

"If he wants us to help in making an appeal in his own defense then we will help him," he told Spanish radio.

Losing her gold medal cost Lazutina a record. For a short time she had 10 Olympic medals, (6 gold, 3 silver, 1 bronze), a Winter Games tally equalled only by compatriot Raissa Smetanina, also a cross country skier.

The news was sweet for Gabriella Paruzzi of Italy who came second in Sunday's 30km classic and moves up one place to gold, her first Olympic title. Stefania Belmondo, the gold medal winner in the 15km freestyle, gets silver and Norwegian Bente Skari, who had won gold in the 10km classic, gets bronze.

"I take my hat off to (IOC President Jacques) Rogge who has acted to ensure that sport wins out (over doping)," said Gaetano Coppi, the president of the Italian Winter Sports Federation.

"I am not ashamed to cry -- they are tears of joy," Paruzzi said.

In the men's 50km race, Mikhail Ivanov of Russia, second behind Muhlegg, claims the gold. Third place finisher Andrus Veerpalu of Estonia takes the silver while fourth-placed Odd Bjorn Hjelmeset is awarded the bronze.

Darbepoetin, a new wonder drug for kidney failure victims, is marketed in the United States under the trade name Aranesp, and works by stimulating the body's production of haemaglobin which supplies oxygen to tissue.

It is not named in the IOC list of banned substances, but falls under the category of "erythropoetin and similar substances."

Meanwhile Canadians were savouring their first Olympic ice hockey gold since the amateur Edmonton Mercurys won at Oslo in 1952.

Adding to their delight they ended the US unbeaten home streak stretching back to their last defeat to Canada at the 1932 Lake Placid Games.

"They hadn't won in 50 years," US forward Jeremy Roenick said. "Maybe it was their turn ... maybe the right team won."

Across Canada, where hockey is part of the national heritage and culture, there was a sense of pressure building on the greatest gathering of talent the nation had produced to bring home nothing less than gold.

"You ever try carrying an anvil on your back for 10 days," Canada defenseman Al MacInnis said. "The pressure was all on us. It was do or bust."