Harri Kirvesniemi

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Harri Kirvesniemi
Medal record
Men's cross country skiing
Olympic Games
Bronze 1980 Lake Placid 4 x 10 km
Bronze 1984 Sarajevo 15 km
Bronze 1984 Sarajevo 4 x 10 km
Bronze 1992 Albertville 4 x 10 km
Bronze 1994 Lillehammer 4 x 10 km
Bronze 1998 Nagano 4 x 10 km
World Championships
Gold 1989 Lahti 15 km classical
Silver 1989 Lahti 4 x 10 km
Silver 1995 Thunder Bay 4 x 10 km
Silver 1997 Trondheim 4 x 10 km
Bronze 1982 Oslo 15 km
Bronze 1982 Oslo 4 x 10 km
Bronze 1985 Seefeld 30 km
Bronze 1991 Val di Fiemme 4 x 10 km
Disqualified 2001 Lahti 4 x 10 km

Harri Tapani Kirvesniemi (born 10 May 1958 in Mikkeli) 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 was born at Mikkeli.

His biggest successes though were at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, where he earned a total of 8 medals. This included one gold (15 km: 1989), three silvers (4 x 10 km: 1989, 1995. 1997), and four bronzes (15 km: 1982, 30 km: 1985, 4 x 10 km: 1982 (shared with East Germany), 1991). In 1998, he earned the Holmenkollen medal (shared with Fred Børre Lundberg, Larissa Lazutina, and Alexey Prokourorov). 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 Lahtis, 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.[1]

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

See also

References

External links

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