Johann Mühlegg (born 8 November 1970 in

Marktoberdorf Marktoberdorf () is the capital of the Bavarian district of Ostallgäu in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Swabia. Marktoberdorf is near the town of Kempten, Füssen, known for the castle Neuschwanstein, Bad Wörishofen, and Schongau. The nearest larg ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

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

and then

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, 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 (; Gosiute dialect, Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; ; Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), were an international wi ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

for doping.

Early career

Mühlegg participated for Germany in the

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

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and

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

, 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 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

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with him at all times, and trusting only his Portuguese 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 f ...

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

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race for the first time. At the 2001 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in

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, 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 Finland, Finnish former cross-country skiing (sport), 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 ...

was disqualified for hemohes 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 (; 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 November 1975 until Abdication of Juan Carlos I, his abdic ...

. 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 (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

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(CAS) found that these medals should also be withdrawn. The CAS remitted this case as well as similar ones involving Olga Danilova and Larisa Lazutina (both from

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) 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