Mikhail Viktorovich Botvinov (russian: Михаил Викторович Ботвинов); born 17 November 1967 in Lidinka,

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

) is a Russian-born Austrian cross-country skier who competed from 1990 to 2007 for both Russia (until 1996) and Austria (since 1997).

Career

He won two medals at the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

with a silver in the men's 30 km freestyle mass start event in

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 a bronze in the men's 50 km freestyle mass start in

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 ...

(Both for Austria). He also competed for the Unified Team in the

1992 Winter Olympics ) , nations = 64 , athletes = 1,801 (1313 men, 488 women) , events = 57 in 6 sports (12 disciplines) , opening = 8 February 1992 , closing = 23 February 1992 , opened_by = President François Mitterrand , cauldron ...

and for Russia in the

1994 Winter Olympics The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games ( no, De 17. olympiske vinterleker; nn, Dei 17. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, was an international winter multi-sport event held fro ...

. Botvinov also won the 50 km event at the

Holmenkollen Ski Festival The Holmenkollen Ski Festival ( no, Holmenkollen skifestival or ) is a traditional annual Nordic skiing event in Holmenkollen, Oslo, Norway. The full official name of the event is Holmenkollen FIS World Cup Nordic. History It takes place in March ...

in 1999, becoming the first Austrian to win the prestigious cross country event. He also won the

Vasaloppet (Swedish for 'the Vasa-race') is an annual long distance cross-country ski race held on the first Sunday of March. The course starts in the village of Berga, just south of Sälen in western Dalarna, Sweden, and ends in the town of Mora in the c ...

event in Sweden two years earlier. His biggest successes were at the

FIS Nordic World Ski Championships The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships is a biennial nordic skiing event organized by the International Ski Federation (FIS). The World Championships was started in 1925 for men and opened for women's participation in 1954. World Championship e ...

, where he won three medals. He won a bronze in

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

for Russia in the 4 × 10 km relay. In

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

, representing Austria, won a gold in the 4 × 10 km relay and a bronze in the 50 km. Botvinov emigrated from Russia to Austria in 1996 and was forced to sit out both the 1996–97 FIS World Cup Season and the

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 ...

Nagano Nagano may refer to: Places * Nagano Prefecture, a prefecture in Japan ** Nagano (city), the capital city of the same prefecture *** Nagano 1998, the 1998 Winter Olympics *** Nagano Olympic Stadium, a baseball stadium in Nagano *** Nagano Universi ...

until he could his citizenship status clarified, but returned to form in 1998. He also encountered controversy with his teammate

Christian Hoffmann Christian Hoffmann (born 22 December 1974 in Aigen im Mühlkreis Aigen im Mühlkreis is a town and a former municipality in Rohrbach District in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. On 1 May 2015 Aigen im Mühlkreis municipality was merged with ...

regarding blood doping in 2002, though both were cleared by the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

on 9 April 2002. Botvinov retired after the 2006–07 World Cup season.FIS Newsflash 122. April 11, 2007.

Cross-country skiing results

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

Olympic Games

* 2 medals – (1 silver, 1 bronze)

World Championships

* 3 medals – (1 gold, 2 bronze)

World Cup

Season standings

Individual podiums

*2 victories *19 podiums

Team podiums

* 4 victories * 17 podiums Note: Until the 1999 World Championships, World Championship races were included in the World Cup scoring system.

References

External links

* * * * - click Vinnere for downloadable pdf file
skifaster.net April 9, 2002 article clearing Botvinov and Hoffman.
* http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/olympics/events/1998/nagano/athletes/416.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:Botvinov, Mikhail 1967 births Austrian male cross-country skiers Cross-country skiers at the 1992 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 1994 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 2002 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Holmenkollen Ski Festival winners Living people Soviet male cross-country skiers Russian male cross-country skiers Olympic cross-country skiers of the Unified Team Olympic cross-country skiers of Russia Olympic cross-country skiers of Austria Olympic silver medalists for Austria Olympic bronze medalists for Austria Vasaloppet winners Olympic medalists in cross-country skiing FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in cross-country skiing Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics Russian emigrants to Austria Naturalised citizens of Austria