Veerpalu Reinstated on Olympic Winners Grant List
The Cultural Endowment will continue to pay two-time Olympic gold medalist Andrus Veerpalu an allowance after a year's gap due to doping charges, for which he was cleared at the end of March.
Veerpalu was axed from the list of recipients at the end of 2011, but will now receive the stipend for 2012 retrospectively, ETV reported on Tuesday.
The stipend of 1,150 euros is paid out four times a year to Estonian Olympic gold-medalists.
In January 2011, anti-doping authorities took a sample from Veerpalu, who was training for the World Championships at the time. Two weeks later the sample came back positive for human growth hormone, and Veerpalu announced his retirement and that he was withdrawing from the Oslo event.
One of Estonia's most celebrated athletes, Veerpalu, 42, saw his reputation tarnished as the International Ski Federation handed him a three-year ban on competing or taking part in any official event. The athlete appealed the decision.
Last month, Veerpalu was acquitted of doping charges by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but court officials said that they still suspect that the cross-country skier broke doping rules.