Harri Kirvesniemi

Harri Tapani Kirvesniemi (born 10 May 1958) is a Finnish former cross-country skier who competed from 1980 to 2001. During his career he won six Olympic medals (all bronzes), and also the 50 km event at the Holmenkollen ski festival in 2000. He retired after being caught doping at the 2001 World Championship in Lahti.

Career His biggest successes though were at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, where he earned a total of eight medals. This included one gold (15 km: 1989), three silvers (4 × 10 km relay: 1989, 1995. 1997), and four bronzes (15 km: 1982, 30 km: 1985, 4 × 10 km relay: 1982 (shared with East Germany), 1991). In 1998, he earned the Holmenkollen medal (shared with Fred Børre Lundberg, Larissa Lazutina, and Alexey Prokurorov). He was married to Marja-Liisa Kirvesniemi, who won the Holmenkollen medal in 1989. This makes them the third husband-wife team to ever win the Holmenkollen medal.

During the 2001 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Lahti, he tested positive for use of the banned plasma expander Hemohes together with five fellow Finnish cross-country skiers. This resulted in the disqualification of the gold-medal winning Finnish relay team. Following the scandal, Kirvesniemi retired from competitive skiing. In 2013, he received a 6-month suspended sentence after the Helsinki District Court found that he had committed perjury when witnessing to the court in 2011 that he was unaware of any doping use in the 1990s.

Presently Kirvesniemi works as the Plant Manager and Board Member at Yoko Ski.

Cross-country skiing results All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).

Olympic Games 6 medals – (6 bronze) Year Age 10 km 15 km Pursuit 30 km 50 km 4 × 10 km relay 1980 21 8 18 — Bronze 1984 25 Bronze 7 4Bronze 1988 29 8 9 22 8 1992 33 6 11 10 —Bronze 1994 35 9 — 12 Bronze 1998 39 13 6 — Bronze

World Championships 8 medals – (1 gold, 3 silver, 4 bronze) Year Age 10 km 15 km classical 15 km freestyle Pursuit 30 km 50 km Sprint 4 × 10 km relay 1982 23 Bronze — 9 Bronze 1985 26 6 Bronze 74 1987 28 12 4 206 1989 30 Gold — 423Silver 1991 32 6 — 5 — Bronze 1993 34 18 DNS 10 — 4 1995 36 5 7 6 — Silver 1997 38 8 — Silver 1999 40 13 — 13 5 2001 42 4 — 8 — —

World Cup Season standings Season Age OverallLong DistanceMiddle DistanceSprint 1982 23 1983 24 14 1984 25 1985 26 9 1986 27 17 1987 28 9 1988 29 15 1989 30 12 1990 31 12 1991 32 13 1992 33 7 1993 34 29 1994 35 12 1995 36 7 1996 37 21 1997 38 29 35 26 1998 39 38 37 36 1999 40 33 30 61 2000 41 14 5 16 — 2001 42 57 —

Individual podiums 6 victories 16 podiums

Team podiums 7 victories 23 podiums

Note: Until the 1999 World Championships and the 1994 Olympics, World Championship and Olympic races were included in the World Cup scoring system.