The film, titled “When Heroes Lie” features a former Olympic weightlifting gold winner who claimed that Mieto asked his advice about using banned anabolic steroids.

In the documentary directed by Arto Halonen, former Olympic weightlifting gold medalist Kaarlo Kangasniemi claims that at a sauna evening hosted by the scandal sheet Hymy in Saarijärvi in 1975, and attended by a covey of top athletes, Mieto had asked about anabolic steroids, now a banned performance-enhancing substance.

“In that conversation it came up that he had used Dianabol (an oral anabolic steroid). Apparently a top ski doctor had prescribed the substance for him,” Kangasniemi said following a press screening of the film.

Mieto however, has refuted Kangasniemi’s claims, dismissing them as “pure rubbish”.

Mieto told Yle that he is considering legal action to silence the claims made in the documentary. He also denied using any banned substances during his athletic career.

“I have never used them… I have been tested many times,” Mieto declared.

Kangasniemi: Paavo Nurmi also used stimulants

Kangasniemi said that he had himself used anabolic steroids.

“When I tore a stomach muscle I got anabolics. My stomach muscle healed and the results improved by about 2 – 5 percent. It was prescribed by a sports doctor because they were not prohibited. Each region had an assigned sports doctor and they prescribed these substances if athletes asked for them or if they were sick,” he explained.

The former weightlifter said he had previously disclosed to news media that the celebrated Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi also used a stimulant known as pervitin, a drug that produces effects similar to those of amphetamine.

He said the information had been suppressed to avoid tarnishing the name of the deceased athletic hero.

He hinted that he had many more stories of similar ilk, but he said he would “leave them for another time.”