Skiathlon (5/5 kilometres Pursuit), Women

This event was changed in 2002 as the short-distance classical event no longer was used as the first section of the event. Rather the event was skied in two sections on the same day, with classical skied first, followed by the freestyle pursuit, both sections now over 5 km. The morning classical leg was won by Olga Danilova with her teammate Larisa Lazutina in second. They had a comfortable lead of over seven seconds on Slovenian Petra Majdič. The Russians were not as strong in the freestyle, but still won the gold and silver medals easily, Danilova seven seconds ahead of Lazutina, who was 10 seconds ahead of Scott. The battle for the bronze was very close. Canada’s Beckie Scott had been sixth in the classical section, with Czech skier Kateřina Neumannová in eighth, trailing Scott by 10.1 seconds. But Neumannová closed on Scott by the last kilometer but could never pass her, Scott holding on to make the podium. She did not know it would eventually be the top step.

In October 2003 it was revealed that Danilova had tested positive for darpopoietin, an erythropoietin analogue, and was disqualified. Scott now had the silver medal behind Lazutina. Not so fast, my friends. Two months, Lazutina was found to have tested positive for darbopoietin, and was also disqualified. At the end of 2003, almost two years later, Scott was awarded the gold medal in this event, Neumannová being moved up to silver, and the bronze medal going to German Viola Bauer. This was the first ever gold medal for Canada in Nordic skiing.