Johann Mühlegg (born 8 November 1970 in

Ostallgäu Ostallgäu is a ''Landkreis'' (district) in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the districts of Oberallgäu, Unterallgäu, Augsburg, Landsberg, Weilheim-Schongau and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and by the Austri ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

) is a former top level cross-country skier who competed in international competitions first representing

and then

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, after becoming a Spanish citizen in 1999. He was excluded and disqualified from the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

for doping.

Early career

Mühlegg participated for Germany in the

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

and

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in the ...

, even though he began having trouble with Germany's ski federation in 1993. From the beginning, Mühlegg singled himself out, at one point accusing German head coach

Georg Zipfel Georg Zipfel (born 13 May 1953) is a German cross-country skier. He competed in the men's 15 kilometre event at the 1976 Winter Olympics The 1976 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XII Olympic Winter Games (german: XII. Olympische Win ...

for "damaging him spiritually" (the so-called ''Spiritistenaffäre''). He was thrown off the team in 1995, but was reinstated later. But from that moment on, the ever eccentric Mühlegg insisted on taking a flask of

holy water Holy water is water that has been blessed by a member of the clergy or a religious figure, or derived from a well or spring considered holy. The use for cleansing prior to a baptism and spiritual cleansing is common in several religions, from ...

with him at all times, and trusting only his

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

cleaning woman/chaperone Justina Agostinho. In the end, Mühlegg was branded as a team cancer and was thrown out.

Competing for Spain

After being ejected from the national team after the 1998 Nagano Games, his good relations with members of the Spanish cross-country skiing team, in particular

Juan Jesús Gutiérrez Cuevas Juan Jesús Gutiérrez Cuevas (born 26 June 1969 in Reinosa, Cantabria) is a Spanish cross-country skier who competed from 1991 to 2006. His best World Cup finish was third at a marathon event in France in 2000. Gutiérrez also competed in fiv ...

and Haritz Zunzunegui, opened the door for Mühlegg to obtain Spanish citizenship. In late 1999, competing for Spain, he won a

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

race for the first time. At the

2001 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2001 took place February 15–25, 2001 in Lahti, Finland for a record sixth time, previous events being held in 1926, 1938, 1958, 1978 and 1989. These championships also saw the most event changes since the ...

Lahti Lahti (; sv, Lahtis) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is the capital of the region of Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme) and its growing region is one of the main economic hubs of Finland. Lahti is situated on a bay at the southern e ...

, he won two medals with a silver in the 10 km + 10 km combined pursuit (stepping up when the original medalist

Jari Isometsä Jari Olavi Isometsä (born 11 September 1968) is a Finnish former cross-country skier who competed from 1990 to 2006. He won three bronze medals in the 4 × 10 km relay at the Winter Olympics (1992, 1994, 1998). Isometsä also won four meda ...

was disqualified for

hemohes Hydroxyethyl starch (HES/HAES), sold under the brand name Voluven among others, is a nonionic starch derivative, used as a volume expander in intravenous therapy. The use of HES on critically ill patients is associated with an increased risk of ...

use), and a gold in the 50 km freestyle race. These are the only medals ever that Spain has won at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. In the

, Mühlegg won gold medals in the 30 km freestyle and the 10 km + 10 km pursuit races, the successes gaining him congratulations from King

Juan Carlos I of Spain Juan Carlos I (;, * ca, Joan Carles I, * gl, Xoán Carlos I, Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias, born 5 January 1938) is a member of the Spanish royal family who reigned as King of Spain from 22 Nov ...

. Mühlegg finished first in the 50 km classical race held on the final Saturday of the Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games on 23 February 2002 but was disqualified from that race and was expelled from the Games the next day, after testing positive for

darbepoetin Darbepoetin alfa (INN) is a re-engineered form of erythropoietin containing 5 amino acid changes (N30, T32, V87, N88, T90) resulting in the creation of 2 new sites for N-linked carbohydrate addition. It has a 3-fold longer serum half-life compar ...

(a medicine which boosts red blood cell count; the substance was not banned at the time since it had only recently been developed).

Doping controversy

Following the darbepoetin scandal, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) initially let Mühlegg keep his gold medals from the first two races. But in December 2003 a ruling by 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 ...

(CAS) found that these medals should also be withdrawn. The CAS remitted this case as well as similar ones involving

Olga Danilova Olga Valeryevna Danilova ( Russian: Ольга Валерьевна Данилова; born 10 June 1970 in Bugulma, Tatar ASSR) is a Russian cross-country skier who competed from 1991 until she was banned for using performance-enhancing drugs i ...

and

Larisa Lazutina Larisa Yevgenyevna Lazutina (russian: Лариса Евгеньевна Лазутина; née Ptitsyna, born 1 June 1965) is a Russian former professional cross-country skier. Career Lazutina was awarded the Holmenkollen medal in 1998 (shared ...

(both from

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

) to the IOC Executive Board, which confirmed the rulings in February 2004.

Cross-country skiing results

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

Olympic Games

World Championships

* 2 medals – (1 gold, 1 silver)

World Cup

Season standings

Individual podiums

*7 victories *12 podiums

Notes

References

External links

*
Olympic 4 x 10 km relay results: 1936-2002
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muhlegg, Johann 1970 births Living people German emigrants to Spain Doping cases in cross-country skiing German male cross-country skiers Spanish male cross-country skiers German sportspeople in doping cases Spanish people of German descent Spanish sportspeople in doping cases Cross-country skiers at the 1992 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 1994 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 2002 Winter Olympics Olympic cross-country skiers of Germany Olympic cross-country skiers of Spain Competitors stripped of Winter Olympics medals FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in cross-country skiing FIS Cross-Country World Cup champions Sportspeople from Swabia (Bavaria) People from Ostallgäu