| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 19 June 1970 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country |  Germany | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Paralympic Nordic skiing | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | WSV Oberhof | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Thomas Oelsner (born 19 June 1970) is a retired German Paralympic Nordic skier who won multiple gold medals throughout his career. He was the first person to fail a drugs test at the Winter Paralympic Games and was stripped of two gold medals. After he served his ban he returned to competitive skiing and participated in the 2006 and 2010 Games.
Oelsner was born on 19 June 1970 and is currently an advertising salesman. [1] In 1991 he was injured in a motorcycle accident which left him with a paralysed left arm. [1] [2] He entered the 1994 Winter Paralympics in Lillehammer as a LW6 class competitor in the biathlon and cross country skiing. [1] Oelsner's first games were a success, winning three golds, one solo silver, and one silver as part of the German relay team. [1] [3] Since then he has continued to use the same skis, even sleeping with them, as a matter of tradition. [2] At the 1998 Games in Nagano he won two golds and one individual silver, and a silver with the German relay team. [1] [3]
At the 2002 Winter Paralympics in Salt Lake City Oelsner won gold in the 7.5 km biathlon and the 5 km classic cross country. [2] However, he would go on to become the first athlete to be sent home from a Winter Paralympic Games for failing a drug test when he tested positive for the steroid methenolone. [4] [5] He was suspended prior to the 10 km cross country event and subsequently stripped of the two gold medals. [6] [7] Oelsner protested his innocence, [8] claiming that there had been a laboratory error or an act of sabotage involved. [9]
Oelsner completed a six-month national ban and returned for the 2006 Winter Paralympics in Torino. [8] He achieved a bronze in the 5 km cross country skiing. [3] [10]
At the 2010 Winter Paralympics in Vancouver Oelsner was embroiled in another controversy when he claimed that the sight on the gun he was using for the Biathlon had been sabotaged, smeared in something he thought might have been chocolate. He soon retracted the accusation and accepted responsibility, stating that whatever happened would have occurred when the gun was in his care. [11] Oelsner announced his retirement from competitive skiing at the end of the 2010 Games. [12]
Johann Mühlegg is a former top level cross-country skier who competed in international competitions first representing Germany and then Spain, after becoming a Spanish citizen in 1999. He was excluded and disqualified from the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City for doping.
Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle is a retired German cross-country skier and biathlete from Reit im Winkl who has competed since 1998. She was born in Traunstein, West Germany. Competing in three Winter Olympics, she won five medals with two golds and three silvers.
Katarzyna Rogowiec is a Polish Paralympian. She won two gold medals at the 2006 Winter Paralympics in Turin in cross-country skiing, and also competes at the highest levels in biathlon.
Brian McKeever is a Canadian cross-country skier and biathlete, who became Canada's most decorated Winter Paralympian when he won his 14th medal at the 2018 Winter Paralympics. He finished the 2018 Games with a career total of 13 gold medals and 17 medals, making him the most decorated Paralympic cross-country skier ever. McKeever claimed a 16th Paralympic gold medal in the men's para cross-country middle distance vision impaired race at Beijing 2022, drawing him level with the German para-alpine racer Gerd Schönfelder for the most men's Winter Paralympic wins.
The Winter Paralympic Games is an international multi-sport event where athletes with physical disabilities compete in snow and ice sports. The event includes athletes with mobility impairments, amputations, blindness, and cerebral palsy. The Winter Paralympic Games are held every four years directly following the Winter Olympic Games and hosted in the same city. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) oversees the Games. Medals are awarded in each event: with gold for first place, silver for second, and bronze for third, following the tradition that the Olympic Games began in 1904.
Nils Erik Ulset is a Norwegian biathlete, cross-country skier, and three-time Paralympic champion.
Anna Alexandrovna Milenina is a Russian Paralympic biathlete and cross-country skier. She was born with Erb's palsy which resulted in her left arm being paralyzed.
Roman Aleksandrovich Petushkov is a Russian cross-country skier, biathlete, and Paralympian. He competes in classification category sitting events.
Iurii Illich Kostiuk is a Ukrainian biathlete, cross-country skier, and Paralympic Champion.
Grygorii Vasylovych Vovchynskyi is a Ukrainian biathlete, cross-country skier, and Paralympian. He is classified LW8, and compete in classification category standing.
Vitaliy Volodymyrovych Lukyanenko is a Ukrainian biathlete, cross-country skier, and Paralympian.
Volodymyr Ivanov is a Ukrainian biathlete, cross-country skier, sighted guide, and Paralympian.
Oksana Masters is an American multi-sport Paralympic athlete of Ukrainian descent from Louisville, Kentucky. Having primarily specialized in rowing and cross-country skiing, she won the first ever United States medal in trunk and arms mixed double sculls at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. She was also a part of the U.S. Nordic skiing team at the 2014 Winter Paralympics and the 2018 Winter Paralympics. She won two Paralympic medals in 2014 and five Paralympic medals in 2018, including two gold. She switched to para-cycling after the 2012 Paralympics and competed at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Paralympics, winning two gold medals at the latter. She competed at the 2022 Winter Paralympics, winning a gold medal in Biathlon – Women's 6 kilometres, sitting.
LW6/8 is a para-Alpine and para-Nordic standing skiing sport class, a classification defined by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) for people with an upper extremity issue who have paralysis, motor paresis affecting one arm, a single upper arm amputation or CP8 classified cerebral palsy. LW6/8 skiers use two skis and one pole in both para-Alpine and para-Nordic skiing.
Anja Wicker is a German handicapped cross-country skier and biathlete. She represented Germany at the 2014 Winter Paralympics claiming a gold and a silver medal in the biathlon events. She also represented Germany at the 2018 and 2022 Winter Paralympics.
Mikhalina Anatolyevna Lysova is a Russian visually impaired cross-country skier and biathlete. She has represented Russia at the Paralympics in 2010 and in 2014 competing in the cross-country skiing and biathlon events. She progressed to become one of the most consistent Paralympics Nordic skiers of Russia as she claimed 16 medals in her Paralympic career including 6 gold medals. She was also the recipient of the Order ''For Merit to the Fatherland'' and Order of Friendship awards.
Oksana Shyshkova is a Ukrainian visually impaired cross-country skier and biathlete. She has competed at the Winter Paralympics thrice in 2010, 2014 and 2018. Oksana Shyshkova claimed 6 medals at the 2017 IPC World Championships, which is her notable achievement in the sport of Nordic skiing. She competed at the 2022 Winter Paralympics, winning a gold medal, in Women's 6 kilometres.
Daniel Cnossen is an American biathlete and cross-country skier competing at the 2022 Winter Olympics. He won gold in the Biathlon at the 2018 Winter Paralympics – Men's 7.5 kilometres in the sitting division. He is a native of Topeka, Kansas and a double amputee. He lost both legs, above the knees, in the War in Afghanistan due to an improvised explosive device while he was a Navy SEAL. Cnossen also competed at the 2014 Winter Paralympics. Cnossen graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 2002. He earned a Master of Public Administration in 2016 from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and also a Master of Theological Studies in 2018 from the Divinity School.
Anthony Chalençon is a French male visually impaired cross-country skier and biathlete who also formerly competed as an alpine skier. He switched from alpine skiing to take up Paralympic Nordic skiing after a disastrous start to his Paralympic career as an alpine skier in 2010. Anthony Chalençon clinched his first Paralympic medals after clinching a bronze medal in the 15km visually impaired biathlon event and gold in the Open Relay during the 2018 Winter Paralympics.
