The Death Merchant said:Bjørn Dæhlie was doped like all of his rivals. Anyone who's claiming that the Norwegians didn't use EPO (a perfect drug that was impossible to detect and which usage was the norm) in the 90's, when all the others did, is seriously delusional. The late Mika Myllylä, Dæhlie's big rival at the time of 1994 and 1998 Olympics, admitted EPO usage in the 90's and even he lost to Dæhlie many times. And Myllylä was not some average schmuck but a real talent and a hard worker. So even a highly talented hard worker juiced with EPO couldn't beat Bjørn Dæhlie. And the financial benefits are surely there as Dæhlie has made some serious money with his success.
This is how incredibly superhuman the Norwegian skiers were. Norwegian cross country team won the medley in the 1998 Olympics, ahead of Italy and Finland, both of which had their skiers filled with EPO at the time. And the Norwegians are still ridiculously claiming that their skiers were doing it clean in the EPO-filled 90's...*shakes head* Believing Norwegians their nation of 5 millions were/is producing the most genetically advanced superhumans in the world for year in year out! Oh dear...How naive and blind can one be.
It sad that Norway still chooses to live in a lie. Still after Pharmstrong and all that has come out of the EPO filled 90's. Norway is the only Nordic country, no...slash that, the only cross country skiing country, that still believes they were clean in the 90's. I'm seriously wondering if the doping usage in Norway was/is totally systematic, somehow sanctioned or tolerated by their anti-doping authorities. Knowing that the very suspicious Inggard Lereim (he also monitored the blood values of skiers through 80's and 90's claimed that no Nordic skier ever used EPO in the 90's, which was just utter BS) has been part of both Norwegian anti-doping and FIS's doping control, I wouldn't be surprised at all if the Norwegians have been advised by him and warned beforehand of possible testing.
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You are Norwegian or what ? Do you actually know anything about cross country skiing ? The legal equivalent to EPO in skiing is ski-preparation . Norway was far ahead of the others at the time of Dæhlie and Alsgaard. If you want to accuse Norwegians of doping in Cross-country skiing, I suggest a look at some of today's athletes. Cross country is a huge sport in Norway, and apart from Sweden and Finland it is a small sport in almost all the rest of the world. That can explain why Norway can dominate it.