Harri Tapani Kirvesniemi (born 10 May 1958, in

Mikkeli Mikkeli (; sv, S:t Michel; la, Michaelia) is a town and municipality in Finland. It is located in what used to be the province of Eastern Finland and is part of the Etelä-Savo region. The municipality has a population of () (around 34,000 ...

) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

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 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 eve ...

, 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 East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

), 1991). In 1998, he earned the Holmenkollen medal (shared with

Fred Børre Lundberg Fred Børre Lundberg (born 25 December 1969 in Hammerfest and raised in Bardufoss) is a former Nordic combined skier from Bardu, Norway. He dominated the sport in the 1990s, winning both at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships and at the Win ...

, 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 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 1 ...

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 Perjury (also known as foreswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an inst ...

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)

World Championships

* 8 medals – (1 gold, 3 silver, 4 bronze)

World Cup

Season standings

Individual podiums

* 6 victories * 16 podiums

Team podiums

* 7 victories * 23 podiums Note: Until the 1999 World Championships and the

1994 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 fr ...

, World Championship and Olympic races were included in the World Cup scoring system.

References

External links

* *
Holmenkollen medalists
– click Holmenkollmedaljen for downloadable pdf file
Holmenkollen winners since 1892
– click Vinnere for downloadable pdf file {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirvesniemi, Harri 1958 births Living people People from Mikkeli Cross-country skiers at the 1980 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 1984 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 1988 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 1992 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 1994 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Doping cases in cross-country skiing Finnish male cross-country skiers Finnish sportspeople in doping cases Holmenkollen medalists Holmenkollen Ski Festival winners Olympic cross-country skiers of Finland Olympic medalists in cross-country skiing FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in cross-country skiing Medalists at the 1998 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1984 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1980 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1992 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1994 Winter Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Finland Sportspeople from South Savo