Mika Myllylä

Mika Kristian Myllylä, who lived from 12 September 1969 to 5 July 2011, was a Finnish cross-country skier who competed from 1992 to 2005. He won six medals at the Winter Olympics: one gold in the 30 km in 1998, one silver in the 50 km in 1994, and four bronzes. He also won nine medals at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, four of them gold. His career was marked by doping: in the Finnish 2001 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships scandal he was caught using hydroxyethyl starch, a plasma expander used to mask erythropoietin, and he received a two year suspension from the FIS. He retired from skiing in 2005 and was found dead at his home in Kokkola on 5 July 2011.