Although support is still strong for him in many quarters in Estonia, disgraced two-time skiing gold medalist Andrus Veerpalu will lose out on state funding for a while - the stipend that the Cultural Endowment pays all living Olympic champions.
Veerpalu, who tested positive for doping last year, is not among this year's recipients of the benefit, which consists of semi-annual payments of 1,150 euros each.
Secretary General of the Olympic Committee Toomas Tõnise said Veerpalu's name could not be proposed this time as it would have gone against international anti-doping rules, which forbid sanctioned athletes from receiving public sector money.
Tõnise said his name would be reinstated once his ban expired.
On January 29, 2011, Veerpalu tested positive for excess level of growth hormone following a training run in Otepää.
FIS, the international ski federation, made its final ruling on Veerpalu's appeal last August, upholding the positive test results and increasing the punishment. It stated that the banned substance could not have been introduced accidentally, but required methodological administration and assistance from medical personnel.
Veerpalu, whose team have claimed he has a genetic mutation that puts his body's production of GH into overdrive, has appealed the FIS decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, which will rule in June.
Kristopher Rikken
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