Andrus Veerpalu facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Andrus Veerpalu
Andrus Veerpalu in 2013
Country	Estonia
Born	(1971-02-08) 8 February 1971 (age 54) Pärnu, Estonia
Height	1.82 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Ski club	Jõulu
World Cup career
Seasons	19 – (1992–2006, 2008–2011)
Individual wins	6
Indiv. podiums	11
Team podiums	0
Indiv. starts	141
Team starts	28
Overall titles	0 – (7th in 2003, 2004)
Discipline titles	0
Medal record Men's cross-country skiing Representing Estonia Olympic Games Gold 2002 Salt Lake City 15 km classical Gold 2006 Turin 15 km classical Silver 2002 Salt Lake City 50 km classical World Championships Gold 2001 Lahti 30 km classical Gold 2009 Liberec 15 km classical Silver 1999 Ramsau 50 km classical

Andrus Veerpalu (born 8 February 1971) is a retired Estonian cross-country skier. He is Estonia's most successful Winter Olympian, having won the gold medal in men's 15 km classical in 2002 and 2006, and silver in men's 50 km classical in 2002.

Career

On 17 February 2006 Veerpalu won his second Winter Olympics gold medal (in 15 km cross country skiing; his previous gold medal is from the Salt Lake City games), becoming the fourth Estonian to have won two Olympic gold medals (Kristjan Palusalu, Erika Salumäe and Kristina Šmigun-Vähi are the first three). He is the most successful Olympic athlete from Estonia with three medals. (Kristina Šmigun-Vähi tied that record at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics)

Veerpalu has also found success at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, winning a gold at 15 km in 2009 at Liberec, 30 km in 2001 at Lahti and a silver at 50 km in 1999 at Ramsau. He has also won the 50 km event at the Holmenkollen ski festival in 2003 and 2005. Veerpalu also competed in the men's 50 km, Mass Start Classic at the 2010 Winter Olympics, finishing at the 6th place.

Veerpalu became the oldest world champion in history with his victory at Liberec 2009 on the 15 km classical event. He was then 38 years old. He is also the oldest Olympic champion in individual distance.

Veerpalu earned the Holmenkollen medal in 2005, the first Estonian to do so.

Veerpalu is the fourth athlete to compete in cross-country skiing at six Winter Olympics, after Marja-Liisa Kirvesniemi, Harri Kirvesniemi, and Jochen Behle. (Kateřina Neumannová is also a cross-country skier who competed at six Olympics, but one of her appearances was in cycling.)

On 23 February 2011, Veerpalu announced that he will end his professional sportsman career due to a chronic knee injury.

Doping case acquittal

Several months after Veerpalu's retirement it was announced that he had tested positive for HGH (growth hormone), however he had pleaded innocent in HGH treatment. Estonian biochemistry doctors explained that the verdict was untimely and that there was no reliable method to distinguish artificial HGH from natural background hormone. Veerpalu appealed the test result to the FIS. The FIS antidoping commission found Veerpalu guilty and extended his ban to three years, due to Veerpalu's team's lack of co-operation with FIS. A group of top Estonian biochemists investigated the matter and insist Veerpalu was a false positive. The Court of Arbitration for Sport acquitted Veerpalu, lifted his doping ban and ordered the FIS to pay a part of Veerpalu's court costs on 25 March 2013.
The court stated "that there are many factors in this case which tend to indicate that the Athlete did in fact himself administer exogenous hGH" but found that the decision limit, the threshold for considering the result an adverse analytical finding, was not sufficiently reliable to uphold the doping conviction. Krista Fischer, a senior researcher for the Estonian Genome Center, questioned what these unexplained factors hinted at by CAS could be: "So what were these factors? Right now the only numbers that seem to hint at doping are the same four numbers that have been ruled invalid."

Cross-country skiing results

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

Olympic Games

• 3 medals – (2 gold, 1 silver)

World Championships

• 3 medals – (2 gold, 1 silver)

World Cup

Season standings

Individual podiums

• 6 victories – (6 WC)
• 11 podiums – (11 WC)

No.	Season	Date	Location	Race	Level	Place
1	1998–99	28 February 1999	Ramsau, Austria	50 km Individual C	World Championships	2nd
2	2002–03	12 January 2003	Otepää, Estonia	30 km Mass Start C	World Cup	3rd
3		15 February 2003	Asiago, Italy	10 km Individual C	World Cup	1st
4		8 March 2003	Oslo, Norway	50 km Individual C	World Cup	1st
5	2003–04	13 December 2003	Davos, Switzerland	15 km Individual C	World Cup	1st
6		16 December 2003	Val di Fiemme, Italy	1.2 km Sprint C	World Cup	3rd
7		17 January 2004	Nové Město, Czech Republic	15 km Individual C	World Cup	1st
8		7 March 2004	Lahti, Finland	15 km Individual C	World Cup	3rd
9	2004–05	8 January 2005	Otepää, Estonia	15 km Individual C	World Cup	1st
10		12 March 2005	Oslo, Norway	50 km Individual C	World Cup	1st
11	2009–10	16 January 2010	Otepää, Estonia	15 km Individual C	World Cup	2nd

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

Personal life

He is married to Angela Veerpalu and they have five children.

See also

In Spanish: Andrus Veerpalu para niños

• List of athletes with the most appearances at Olympic Games