Mika Myllyla, a Finnish Olympic gold medalist and winner of three world championships in cross-country skiing whose career crashed after he was caught up in a doping scandal in 2001, was found dead on Tuesday in his apartment in Kokkola, Finland. He was 41.

The police did not provide details but said no crime was involved, the Finnish national broadcasting company, YLE, reported.

In a country where cross-country skiing is the major sport, Myllyla was a national hero. He won six Olympic medals, including a gold medal in the 30-kilometer cross-country race at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan. He won a silver medal in the 50-kilometer race at the 1994 Games in Lillehammer, Norway, and shared four bronze medals during those Olympics. Myllyla was also a four-time medal winner — three gold medals and a silver — at the 1999 world championships in Ramsau, Austria.

Myllyla’s career came to a halt at the world championships in Lahti, Finland, in February 2001. He and five other members of the Finnish team were forced to admit, after testing, that they had taken drugs used to boost endurance or to mask the effects of other performance-enhancing drugs. All six were barred from competing for two years. Although Myllyla tried to make a comeback, he failed to make the team in 2005 and quit the sport.

A medical bag inadvertently left at a gas station near Helsinki’s airport led to the downfall of Myllyla and his teammates; it belonged to the Finnish Ski Association.