Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle (; born 27 November 1980) is a retired German

cross-country skier Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...

and biathlete from

Reit im Winkl Reit im Winkl is a small village (locally known as a snow-magnet ) located on the German/Austrian border in the southeastern part of Bavaria, Germany in the Traunstein district, and was previously an immigration and customs control point (prior t ...

who has competed since 1998. She was born in

Traunstein Traunstein (Central Bavarian: ''Traunstoa'') is a town in the south-eastern part of Bavaria, Germany, and is the administrative center of a much larger district of the same name. The town serves as a local government, retail, health services, ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. Competing in three Winter Olympics, she won five medals with two golds (Team sprint:

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, 4 × 5 km relay:

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

) and three silvers (Individual sprint: 2002, 4 × 5 km relay:

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, 2010). Sachenbacher-Stehle has also won six medals at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships with a gold (4 × 5 km relay: 2003) and four silvers (5 km + 5 km double pursuit: 2003, team sprint: 2007 with

Claudia Künzel-Nystad Claudia Nystad ( Künzel, born 1 February 1978) is a German top-level woman cross-country skier. She was born in Zschopau, East Germany, and represents the sports club WSC Erzgebirge Oberwiesenthal. Besides her civilian sports career, she serves ...

, 4 × 5 km relay: 2009) and a bronze. She also has fourteen individual victories at various levels in distances up to 5 km in her career from 1998 to 2006. She received a five-day suspension at the beginning of the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...

due to a high

hemoglobin Hemoglobin (haemoglobin BrE) (from the Greek word αἷμα, ''haîma'' 'blood' + Latin ''globus'' 'ball, sphere' + ''-in'') (), abbreviated Hb or Hgb, is the iron-containing oxygen-transport metalloprotein present in red blood cells (erythrocyte ...

level. She was one of twelve athletes given five-day suspensions for health reasonsthe

International Ski Federation The ''Fédération internationale de ski et de snowboard'' (FIS; en, International Ski and Snowboard Federation) is the highest international governing body for skiing and snowboarding. Founded on 2 February 1924 in Chamonix, France during the ...

decided they could not safely compete due to an abnormally high red blood cell counts. From the 2012/2013 season, she switched to biathlon, citing motivational problems, and was given a slot in the German B-team. Members of the B-team are eligible to compete in

IBU Cup The IBU Cup in biathlon has been held since the winter seasons of 1982–83 and 1988–89, for women and men, respectively. Until the 2007–08 season this competition was called European Cup. It is the second-rank competition in biathlon after th ...

races. Her results in the IBU-Cup made her eligible to compete in the

Biathlon World Cup The Biathlon World Cup is a top-level biathlon season-long competition series. It has been held since the winter seasons of 1977–78 Biathlon World Cup, 1977–78 for men and 1982–83 Biathlon World Cup, 1982–83 for women. The women's seasons ...

. In her first World Cup race, on 14 December 2012 in Pokljuka, Sachenbacher-Stehle finished 59th. On 6 January 2013 she achieved the first IBU Cup podium, finishing second in the 7.5 km sprint in Otepää. As of January 2014, her best individual performance in a World Cup race remains sixth place in 7.5 km sprint in

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...

on 10 March 2013. She finished fourth in the 12.5 kilometre mass start biathlon competition of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games on 17 February 2014. On 21 February 2014, it was confirmed that Sachenbacher-Stehle had tested positive for methylhexanamine during the Sochi Olympic Games. She was stripped of her Olympic accreditation, and her results were annulled. In July 2014, she was banned for two years for doping. In November 2014 it was announced that the

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; french: Tribunal arbitral du sport, ''TAS'') is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland and its co ...

had ruled that her ban should be cut to six months after she appealed, on the grounds that her failed test was due to contamination of food supplements. However shortly afterwards she announced her retirement from the sport in an interview on the television programme ''

Sportschau ''Sportschau'' is a German sports magazine on broadcaster ARD, produced by WDR in Cologne. The magazine started in 1961. In its Saturday' edition, the ''Sportschau'' shows a summary of the Bundesliga, whereas the Sunday edition reports on the la ...

''. She married German alpine skier Johannes Stehle in July 2005.

Cross-country skiing results

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

Olympic Games

* 5 medals – (2 gold, 3 silver)

World Championships

* 6 medals – (1 gold, 4 silver, 1 bronze) :a. Cancelled due to extremely cold weather.

World Cup

Season standings

Individual podiums

* 3 victories – (3 ) * 12 podiums – (12 )

Team podiums

* 7 victories – (4 , 3 ) * 25 podiums – (19 , 6 ) Note: Until the 1999 World Championships, World Championship races were included in the World Cup scoring system.

Overall record

:a. Classification is made according to FIS classification. :b. Includes individual and mass start races. :c. Includes pursuit and double pursuit races. Note: Until 1999 World Championships, World Championship races are part of the World Cup. Hence results from the 1999 World Championships are included in the World Cup overall record.

Biathlon results

Olympic Games

References

* * McCauley, Janie
"2002 champ loses appeal of high hemoglobin suspension"
''Ski Racing'', 11 February 2006.

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sachenbacher-Stehle, Evi 1980 births Living people People from Traunstein Sportspeople from Upper Bavaria Cross-country skiers at the 2002 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 2014 Winter Olympics German female cross-country skiers German female biathletes Olympic cross-country skiers of Germany Olympic biathletes of Germany Olympic gold medalists for Germany Olympic silver medalists for Germany Olympic medalists in cross-country skiing FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in cross-country skiing Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics Doping cases in biathlon German sportspeople in doping cases