Jari Isometsä


Jari Olavi Isometsä is a Finnish former cross-country skier who competed from 1990 to 2006. He won three bronze medals in the 4 × 10 km relay at the Winter Olympics.
Isometsä also won four medals at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships with two silvers and two bronzes. In the World Cup, he took four victories in races between 10 km and 30 km.
Isometsä was among the six Finnish skiers who were caught of doping in the Finnish 2001 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships scandal for taking hydroxyethyl starch, a blood plasma expander usually used to cover up the use of erythropoietin in athletes. He was stripped of his silver medal in the 10 km + 10 km combined pursuit and served a two-year suspension from the FIS, IOC, and World Anti-Doping Agency, effectively ending his career as a world-class skier.
In 2013, Isometsä received a six-month suspended sentence after the Helsinki District Court found that he had committed perjury when witnessing to the court in 2011 that he was unaware of any doping use in the 1990s.

Cross-country skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).

Olympic Games

  • 3 medals –
Year Age 10 km Pursuit 30 km 50 km 4 × 10 km
relay
19922316[Cross-country skiing at the 1992 Winter Olympics – Men's Cross-country skiing at the 1998 Winter Olympics – Men's 10 kilometre classical|15 kilometre freestyle pursuit|12]22Bronze
19942523[Cross-country skiing at the 1994 Winter Olympics – Men's 15 kilometre freestyle pursuit|]6Bronze
1998291584Bronze

World Championships

  • 4 medals –
Year Age 10 km 15 km Pursuit 30 km 50 km Sprint 4 × 10 km
relay
199122Bronze
19932415134
1995268Bronze9Silver
1997281461413Silver
199930114145
200132

World Cup

Individual podiums

  • 4 victories
  • 23 podiums
No.SeasonDateLocationRaceLevelPlace
1 1993–94 21 December 1993

Team podiums

  • 7 victories –
  • 21 podiums –
No.SeasonDateLocationRaceLevelPlaceTeammate
1 1990–91 15 February 1991ref label|worldcuprace|1