Lyubov Yegorova
Russia
Cross Country Skiing
Overall Ranks
#3 among Russian Olympians
#2 among Cross Country Skiers
#1 among Female Russian Olympians
#1 among Russian Cross Country Skiers
Olympic Results
1992
5 km - Silver
15 km - Gold
30 km - Silver
Skiathlon - Gold
Relay - Gold
1994
5 km - Gold
15 km - Silver
Skiathlon - Gold
Relay - Gold
Total
Events - 12
Gold - 6
Silver - 3
Lyubov Ivanovna Yegorova was born on May 5, 1966 in Seversk, USSR, which is now part of Russia, and began competing internationally in cross country skiing when she was 17 years old. It took her several years to get to the level where she could compete in the Olympics, but once she did, she was dominant.
She made her first Olympic team in 1992, competing for the Unified Team shortly after the breakup of the Soviet Union. Her first event was the 15 km, and she destroyed the field, leading at every checkpoint on the course, and she ended up winning the gold medal by a minute and 9 seconds, a sign of what was to come.
The next event was the shortest, the 5 km, and this one was raced in a heavy snowstorm. She was slightly behind the leader at the midway checkpoint, and was able to close the gap a bit, but not quite enough, as she ended up losing by 0.9 seconds, and had to be content with a silver medal.
The next event was the skiathlon, where skiers took off based on their finish in the 5 km race the previous day. Since she was less than a second behind, she started at the same time as the leader, and both were quickly overtaken by Stefania Belmondo of Italy, who had started just 12 seconds later. She led for 6.5 km of the 10 km race, at which point Yegorova was able to take the lead, which she extended to 24 seconds by the finish, earning her a second gold medal.
A few days later she competed in the relay, skiing the anchor leg for the favored Unified Team. They held a decent lead after the first leg, but Norway caught them on leg 2, taking the lead by 9 seconds at the next exchange. Larisa Lazutina (#67) gave them back the lead by 2 seconds before Yegorova took off, and she close the door on Norway, bringing home the gold by over 21 seconds.
The final event was the longest, the 30 km, which was being contested by women for the first time. Yegorova started off a little slowly, but picked up the pace after the first checkpoint, and ended up spending nearly the entire race in second place, but she was never able to get closer than 8 seconds behind Belmondo, who would take the gold, while Yegorova ended up with another silver.
The next Olympics would happen just 2 years later, thanks to the schedule change to stagger the Winter and Summer Games. She competed in the same 5 events, this time representing Russia, starting with the 15 km, where she was the defending champ. This time, she would stay in second place for the entire race, unable to catch up to Manuela Di Centa of Italy, who built a lead of more than 37 seconds at the final checkpoint, then coasted in for an easy win, finishing 18.5 seconds ahead of Yegorova.
In the 5 km, which she had narrowly lost 2 years earlier, Yegorova changed the script. She had a slight lead at the midpoint, just under 4 seconds, but then pulled away in the second half, ending up 19.5 seconds ahead of Di Centa to take her first gold in Lillehammer, and 4th overall.
The skiathlon was held later that afternoon, and Yegorova got a nice headstart thanks to winning the 5 km. Belmondo skied the fastest time of the competition, 13 seconds faster than Yegorova, but she started out nearly a minute behind, and never truly challenged. Di Centa was able to close the gap slightly, but Yegorova still won the race by just over 8 seconds to win another gold medal.
The relay was next, and it was again a close competition between Russia and Norway. Russia held the lead by 8 seconds after the initial leg, but Norway had pulled ahead by nearly the same amount after leg 2. Russia close the gap to just one second after the third leg, then Yegorova took over for the anchor leg, and left no doubt who would win the gold medal, as she finished 30 seconds ahead of her Norwegian foe.
Her final event was the 30 km, and up to that point she had never finished worse than second in an Olympic race, but that would change in this one. She was in 8th place at the first checkpoint, and made steady progress upward throughout the race, reaching 4th place at the final checkpoint, but she was still 20 seconds behind the medalists, and was unable to close the gap, finishing up in 5th place.
In 1997, she won the gold medal in the 5 km race at the World Championships, but afterward she failed her drug test, testing positive for bromantan, a stimulant. Her medal was stripped, and she was banned from competition for two years. She retired at that point, but did decide to attempt a comeback for the 2002 Olympics.
She competed in 2 events in the 2002 Olympics, starting with the 10 km. She was one of the faster skiers in the event, but was still nowhere near the medalists, at least 30 seconds behind the entire time, and finished in 7th, though that was eventually moved up to 5th after 2 of her teammates were disqualified for failed drug tests. She also competed in the sprint event, but failed to advance out of the quarterfinal round, ending up ranked 11th. She retired for good in 2003.
Though she was caught doping after her Olympic successes, there is no evidence that she was cheating while winning all of those Olympic medals, although the history of Russian Olympians suggests that she may have. Still, it was never proven, and the fact that she won 9 total gold and silver medals between the 1992 and 1994 games makes her one of the greatest Olympians of all time.
