The Estonian Andrus Veerpalu was banned until March 2023. Most recently he worked as a supervisor.
Andreas Veerpalu (left).
With the punishment of cross-country Olympic champion Andrus Veerpalu, the sixth and last case of the FIS in connection with the bloodletting operation has also been legally concluded. As the World Ski Federation (FIS) announced, the International Sports Court (CAS) has banned the Estonian who was last working as a supervisor until March 2023.
Previously there had been FIS judgments with several years of sanctions against five other members of the private cross-country skiing team “Haanja”, Mati Alaver, Karel Tammjärv, Andreas Veerpalu, Algo Kärp and Alexej Poltoranin. Civil law proceedings were also taken against the aforementioned because of doping offenses in their home countries and, in some cases, also in Austria.
Hauke, Baldauf, Dürr
The Austrian cross-country skiers Max Hauke, Dominik Baldauf and Johannes Dürr, who were also involved in the blood doping ring around the German doctor Mark S., which was blown up at the Nordic World Cup 2019 in Seefeld, have been prosecuted by the Austrian anti-doping agency NADA and local courts.
The sports doctor S. was sentenced to imprisonment in Munich as the main perpetrator. In addition to the aforementioned cross-country skiers, there were also professional cyclists such as Stefan Denifl, Georg Preidler and Alessandro Petacchi as well as other domestic and foreign athletes from various sports among the doping customers.
