Austrian gets late gold

Wed., June 23, 2004

Associated Press

VIENNA, Austria — Cross-country skier Christian Hoffmann of Austria was awarded a 2002 Olympic gold medal originally given to an athlete disqualified for using drugs.

Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel presented the medal to Hoffmann on Monday, 863 days after the 30-kilometer freestyle race in Salt Lake City. It was Austria’s first Olympic gold medal in the event.

“It is a great day for Austrian winter sports,” Austrian Olympic Committee leader Leo Wallner told the Associated Press on Tuesday.

Hoffmann told Austrian radio ORF it was “the greatest day of my life.”

He got the gold after Johann Muehlegg, a German competing for Spain, was disqualified.

Muehlegg had already won three gold medals before he got back a positive test result for an endurance-enhancing drug.

Olympic authorities granted Hoffmann the gold medal in December 2003. The long delay resulted from the IOC needing to check whether it could pass the medal to Hoffman, said Heinz Jungwirth, the secretary-general of the Austrian Olympic Committee.

“I can still recall when my coach stopped me on the slope and told me I was the new Olympic champion,” Hoffmann said. “I thought he was crazy.”

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Austrian gets late gold

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