{{Short description|German paralympic skier}} {{Infobox sportsperson | headercolor = | name = Thomas Oelsner | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1970|06|19|df=yes}} | height = | weight = | country = {{GER}} | sport = Paralympic Nordic skiing | club = WSV Oberhof | turnedpro = | coach = | retired = | worlds = | regionals = | nationals = | paralympics = | medaltemplates = {{MedalCompetition|Paralympic Games}} {{MedalGold | 1994 Lillehammer | Men's Biathlon 7.5 km Free Technique LW5-8}} {{MedalGold | 1994 Lillehammer | Men's Cross Country 10 km Free Technique LW6/8}} {{MedalGold | 1994 Lillehammer | Men's Cross Country 20 km Classical Technique LW6/8}} {{MedalGold | 1998 Nagano | Men's Biathlon 7.5 km Free Technique LW6/8}} {{MedalGold | 1998 Nagano | Men's Cross Country 15 km Free Technique LW5/7,6/8}} {{MedalSilver | 1994 Lillehammer | Men's Cross Country 5 km Classical Technique LW6/8}} {{MedalSilver | 1994 Lillehammer | Men's 4x5 km Cross Country Relay standing/blind}} {{MedalSilver | 1998 Nagano | Men's Cross Country 5 km Classical Technique LW5/7,6/8}} {{MedalSilver | 1998 Nagano | Men's Cross Country 4x5 km Relay standing/blind}} {{MedalBronze | 2006 Turin | Men's Cross Country 5 km standing}} {{Medal|Disqualified | 2002 Salt Lake City | Men's Cross Country 5 km standing}} }}
'''Thomas Oelsner''' (born 19 June 1970) is a German retired Paralympic Nordic skier who won multiple gold medals throughout his career. He was the first person to fail a drugs test at the Winter Paralympic Games and was stripped of two gold medals. After he served his ban he returned to competitive skiing and participated in the 2006 and 2010 Games.
==Biography== Oelsner was born on 19 June 1970 and is currently an advertising salesman.<ref name="nordski">{{cite web|url=http://www.nordski.de/Neue_Dateien/Mannschaft/Aktive/Thomas%20Oelsner.html|title=Name: Thomas Oelsner|publisher=Verein zur Förderung des nordischen Behinderten-Skilaufs Deutschland|language=de|accessdate=27 August 2012|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100309191258/http://nordski.de/Neue_Dateien/Mannschaft/Aktive/Thomas%20Oelsner.html|archivedate=9 March 2010}}</ref> In 1991 he was injured in a motorcycle accident which left him with a paralysed left arm.<ref name="nordski" /><ref name="FAZ">{{cite news|url=https://www.faz.net/aktuell/sport/paralympics-der-mit-dem-ski-schlaeft-thomas-oelsner-150304.html|title=Paralympics Der mit dem Ski schläft: Thomas Oelsner|work=Frankfurter Allgemeine|language=de|date=11 March 2002|accessdate=28 August 2012}}</ref> He entered the 1994 Winter Paralympics in Lillehammer as a LW6 class competitor in the biathlon and cross country skiing.<ref name="nordski" /> Oelsner's first games were a success, winning three golds, one solo silver, and one silver as part of the German relay team.<ref name="nordski" /><ref name="IPCresults">{{cite web|url=http://www.paralympic.org/ipc_results/search.php?sport=all&games=all&medal=all&npc=all&gender=all&name=Oelsner&fname=Thomas|title=Athlete Search Results|publisher=International Paralympic Committee|accessdate=29 August 2012}}</ref> Since then he has continued to use the same skis, even sleeping with them, as a matter of tradition.<ref name="FAZ" /> At the 1998 Games in Nagano he won two golds and one individual silver, and a silver with the German relay team.<ref name="nordski" /><ref name="IPCresults" />
===Failed drugs test=== At the 2002 Winter Paralympics in Salt Lake City Oelsner won gold in the 7.5 km biathlon and the 5 km classic cross country.<ref name="FAZ" /> However, he would go on to become the first athlete to be sent home from a Winter Paralympic Games for failing a drug test when he tested positive for the steroid methenolone.<ref name="BBC">{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/winterolympics2002/hi/english/paralympics/newsid_1870000/1870076.stm|title=Gold medallist fails drugs test|publisher=BBC News|date=13 March 2002|access-date=27 August 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/3020022/Sports-Round-up.html|title=Sports Round-up|publisher=Telegraph Media Group Limited|work=The Telegraph|date=13 March 2002|accessdate=27 August 2012}}</ref> He was suspended prior to the 10 km cross country event and subsequently stripped of the two gold medals.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.faz.net/aktuell/sport/paralympics-thomas-oelsner-war-bei-biathlon-sieg-gedopt-150078.html|title=Paralympics Thomas Oelsner war bei Biathlon-Sieg gedopt|work=Frankfurter Allgemeine|language=de|date=12 March 2002|accessdate=28 August 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2710&dat=20020314&id=y2g5AAAAIBAJ&sjid=USkMAAAAIBAJ&pg=923,2308834|title=Vancouver's Scott Patterson wins bronze at Paralympics|work=Oxford Review|page=11|date=14 March 2002|accessdate=27 August 2012}}</ref> Oelsner protested his innocence,<ref name="FAZ2">{{cite news|url=https://www.faz.net/aktuell/sport/paralympics-dopingfall-oelsner-test-eindeutig-reaktionen-gespalten-151928.html|title=Paralympics Dopingfall Oelsner: Test eindeutig - Reaktionen gespalten|work=Frankfurter Allgemeine|language=de|date=13 March 2002|accessdate=28 August 2012}}</ref> claiming that there had been a laboratory error or an act of sabotage involved.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.handelsblatt.com/sport/sonstige-sportarten/biathlon-paralympics-biathlet-oelsner-wittert-sabotage-bei-paralympics/3390640.html|title=Biathlet Oelsner wittert Sabotage bei Paralympics|publisher=Handelsblatt|language=de|date=15 March 2010|accessdate=28 August 2012}}</ref>
===Return to competition=== Oelsner completed a six-month national ban and returned for the 2006 Winter Paralympics in Turin.<ref name="FAZ2" /> He achieved a bronze in the 5 km cross country skiing.<ref name="IPCresults" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://skiracing.com/?q=node/4015|title=PARALYMPICS: Bramble, Devlin-Young Go 1-2 In Alpine; Cook Nabs Nordic Gold|publisher=SkiRacing|accessdate=28 August 2012}}</ref>
At the 2010 Winter Paralympics in Vancouver Oelsner was embroiled in another controversy when he claimed that the sight on the gun he was using for the Biathlon had been sabotaged, smeared in something he thought might have been chocolate. He soon retracted the accusation and accepted responsibility, stating that whatever happened would have occurred when the gun was in his care.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.focus.de/sport/olympia-2010/paralympics/paralympics-paralympics-oelsner-ueber-das-ziel-hinausgeschossen_aid_490101.html|title=Paralympics: Oelsner: "Über das Ziel hinausgeschossen"|publisher=Focus online|date=16 March 2010|accessdate=28 August 2012}}</ref> Oelsner announced his retirement from competitive skiing at the end of the 2010 Games.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.morgenpost.de/sport/article1278893/Keine-Nation-war-erfolgreicher-als-Deutschland.html|title=Keine Nation war erfolgreicher als Deutschland|publisher=Berliner Morgenpost|language=de|date=21 March 2010|accessdate=28 August 2012}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
== External links == * [https://www.paralympic.org/thomas-oelsner Thomas Oelsner] at the International Paralympic Committee
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oelsner, Thomas}} Category:1970 births Category:Living people Category:German male biathletes Category:Biathletes at the 1994 Winter Paralympics Category:Biathletes at the 1998 Winter Paralympics Category:Cross-country skiers at the 1994 Winter Paralympics Category:Cross-country skiers at the 1998 Winter Paralympics Category:Cross-country skiers at the 2006 Winter Paralympics Category:Cross-country skiers at the 2002 Winter Paralympics Category:Biathletes at the 2002 Winter Paralympics Category:Biathletes at the 2010 Winter Paralympics Category:Paralympic bronze medalists for Germany Category:Paralympic silver medalists for Germany Category:Paralympic gold medalists for Germany Category:Competitors stripped of Paralympic medals Category:Medalists at the 1994 Winter Paralympics Category:Medalists at the 1998 Winter Paralympics Category:Medalists at the 2006 Winter Paralympics Category:German male cross-country skiers Category:Paralympic medalists in cross-country skiing Category:Paralympic cross-country skiers for Germany Category:Doping cases in paralympic sports Category:People from Schmalkalden-Meiningen Category:Skiers from Thuringia Category:East German male cross-country skiers Category:Sportspeople from Bezirk Suhl