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| Virpi Kuitunen |
 |
| Personal information |
| Full name |
Virpi Katriina Kuitunen |
| Date of birth |
May 20, 1976 (1976-05-20) (age 32) |
| Place of birth |
Kangasniemi, Finland |
| Height |
174 cm |
| Professional information |
| Club |
Kangasniemen Kalske |
| Skis |
Rossignol |
| World Cup |
| Seasons |
1997- |
| Wins |
10 |
| Additional podiums |
16 |
| Total podiums |
26 |
| Infobox last updated on: |
| {{{updated}}} |
Virpi Kuitunen (born May 20, 1976 in Kangasniemi) is a Finnish cross country skier who has competed since 1995. She won a bronze medal in the team sprint event (with Aino Kaisa Saarinen) at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin and earned her best individual finish of 5th in the individual sprint event in those same games.
Kuitunen has six medals at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships with four golds (2001: 5 km + 5 km combined pursuit, 2007: Team sprint, with Riitta-Liisa Roponen, 4 x 5 km & 30 km), one silver (2005: 30 km), one bronze (2007: Indvidiual sprint). She also has thirty-four additional individual victories at various levels of various distances since 2000.
Kuitunen won the first ever Tour de Ski competition for women in 2006–07, winning over Norway's Marit Bjørgen by 1:17.5. She also won the overall 2006-07 Cross-Country Skiing World Cup, as well as the sprint World Cup the same season. In the season 2007-08 Virpi won the overall again.
Because of Kuitunen's successes in cross country skiing in 2007, she was awarded Finnish Sportswoman of the Year.
[edit] Doping controversy
At the 2001 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Lahti, Kuitunen was disqualified when she tested positive for hydroxyethyl starch, a banned blood plasma expander. This forced her to relinquish her silver medal earned in the 4 x 5 km and serve a two-year suspension that would not end until the 2003 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships.
Virpi Kuitunen leading the group in the quarterfinals of Tour de Ski, Prague 2007
[edit] References
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World champions in women's cross country skiing 3/4 x 5 km relay |
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| 3 x 5 km |
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| 4 x 5 km |
1974 Soviet Union - Nina Baldycheva, Nina Selyunina, Raisa Smetanina & Galina Kulakova * 1978 Finland - Taina Impiö, Marja-Liisa Hämäläinen, Hilkka Riihivuori & Helena Takalo * 1982 Norway - Anette Bøe, Inger Helene Nybråten, Berit Aunli & Britt Pettersen * 1985 Soviet Union - Tamara Tikhonova, Raisa Smetanina, Liliya Vasilchenko & Anfisa Romanova * 1987 Soviet Union - Antonina Ordina, Nina Gavrilyuk, Larisa Ptistyna, & Anfisa Reztsova * 1989 Finland - Pirkko Määttä, Marja-Liisa Kirvesniemi, Jaana Savolainen & Marjo Matikainen * 1991 Soviet Union - Lyubov Yegorova, Raisa Smetanina, Tamara Tikhonova & Yelena Välbe * 1993 Russia - Yelena Välbe, Larisa Lazutina, Nina Gavrilyuk & Lyubov Yegorova * 1995 Russia - Olga Danilova, Yelena Välbe, Larisa Lazutina & Nina Gavrilyuk * 1997 Russia - Olga Danilova, Larisa Lazutina, Nina Gavrilyuk & Yelena Välbe * 1999 Russia - Olga Danilova, Larisa Lazutina, Anfisa Reztsova & Nina Gavrilyuk * 2001 Russia - Olga Danilova, Larisa Lazutina, Yuliya Chepalova & Nina Gavrilyuk * 2003 Germany - Manuela Henkel, Viola Bauer, Claudia Künzel & Evi Sachenbacher * 2005 Norway - Vibeke Skofterud, Hilde Gjermundshaug Pedersen, Kristin Størmer Steira & Marit Bjørgen * 2007 Finland - Virpi Kuitunen, Aino-Kaisa Saarinen, Riitta-Liisa Roponen & Pirjo Manninen |
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Tanja Poutiainen
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