Andrus Veerpalu
| Andrus Veerpalu | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born |
8 February 1971 Pärnu, Estonia |
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| Height | 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ski club | Jõulu | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Cup career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Seasons | 1990–2011 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Individual wins | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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| Updated on 22 March 2011. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Andrus Veerpalu (born 8 February 1971 in Pärnu) is a former and so far the most successful Estonian male cross country skier.
On 17 February 2006 Veerpalu won his second Winter Olympics gold medal (in 15 km cross country skiing; his previous gold medal is from the Salt Lake City games), becoming the fourth Estonian to have won two Olympic gold medals (Kristjan Palusalu, Erika Salumäe and Kristina Šmigun-Vähi are the first three). He is the most successful Olympic athlete from Estonia with three medals. (Kristina Šmigun-Vähi tied that record at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics)
Veerpalu has also found success at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, winning a gold at 15 km in 2009 at Liberec, 30 km in 2001 at Lahti and a silver at 50 km in 1999 at Ramsau. He has also won the 50 km event at the Holmenkollen ski festival in 2003 and 2005. Veerpalu also competed in the men's 50 km, Mass Start Classic at the 2010 Winter Olympics, finishing at the 6th place.
Andrus Veerpalu became the oldest world champion in history with his victory at Liberec 2009 on the 15 km classical event. He was then 38 years old. He is also the oldest Olympic champion in individual distance.
Veerpalu earned the Holmenkollen medal in 2005, the first Estonian to do so.
Veerpalu is the fourth athlete to compete in cross-country skiing at six Winter Olympics, after Marja-Liisa Kirvesniemi, Harri Kirvesniemi, and Jochen Behle. (Kateřina Neumannová is also a cross-country skier who competed at six Olympics, but one of her appearances was in cycling.)
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