HELSINKI, Finland, July 5 (UPI) -- Mika Myllyla, the Finnish cross-country skier who won Olympic gold in 1998 before his career was sunk by doping, has died at age 41.
Finnish broadcaster YLE reported Tuesday police found Myllyla dead in his home in Kokkola. Details of his death were not provided.
Myllyla won the 30-kilometer freestyle at the Nagano Games in 1998. He also won a silver medal in the 50-kilometer event at the 1994 Games in Lillehammer and claimed four bronze Olympic medals.
But the four-time world champion tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2001, and his personal life deteriorated with drunken-driving convictions in 2008 and 2010.
Reijo Alakoski, chairman of Finland's cross-country skiing association, told YLE Myllyla "was one of the best skiers of all time, and this sad news will surely touch the whole skiing world."
"I remember his first central Ostrobothnia regional championship, where he surprised everyone in the 30km race as a 17-year-old boy," Alakoski said. "I was there that day following the competition, and it was already clear then that this boy would become a champion skier.
"He should be remembered as a great athlete. Mika changed completely as a person on the day his doping was made public. It has been sad to watch his descent and anguish from the sidelines over the last 10 years. This is a dark day in the history of Ostrobothnian cross-country skiing."
