LIST 31 released Russian biathletes mentioned in the McLaren Commission report
vid_roll_width="300px" vid_roll_height="150px">A list of 31 biathletes from Russia whom the IBU suspects of doping has leaked online. A file with alleged persons on Richard McLaren's list was published by the Italian website NeveItalia.
The document mentions about 40 Russian athletes, contains the results of their doping tests, the place where the test was taken, the result that came to WADA (everywhere it is negative - that is why Russia is accused of substituting samples), and Grigory Rodchenkov’s comments from the correspondence published along with the second part Richard McLaren's report, Life reports.
The list is a selection of Russian biathletes, information intkbbach about which WADA has information, but not only those suspected of doping. So, the best Russian biathlete Anton Shipulin is on the list, but there are no marks next to his name in the “substance found” column.
There are comments about the presence of doping next to the names of members of the Russian national team Ekaterina Shumilova and Ekaterina Glazyrina, who appear in the McLaren report under numbers A0714 and A0241, respectively.
Among the Russian biathletes, Yana Romanova, Olga Zaitseva and Olga Vilukhina were also noted, who competed at the Olympics in Sochi and came second in the relay (Vilukhina also won silver in the sprint). Of the men on the list, Timofey Lapshin is mentioned, who is not involved in the World Cup this season due to health problems. Later, rumors appeared in the media that Lapshin wanted to obtain South Korean citizenship.
The IBU made a decision on Russia: Russia abandoned the Biathlon World Cup stage
The Executive Committee of the International Biathlon Union decided to move the Biathlon World Cup from Tyumen, as well as to change the venue of the Junior World Championship, which was to be held in Ostrov. The IBU also temporarily suspended two Russian biathletes from competitions, whose names were mentioned in the report of the WADA commission led by Richard McLaren, RT reports.
According to the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation for Sports, Tourism and Youth Policy Vitaly Mutko, the IBU made a balanced decision in relation to Russia: “A balanced decision was made that allows us to draw conclusions calmly, not on abstract statements and conclusions of one person. The most important thing is that our athletes will continue to perform at the World Cup stages. The RBU and anti-doping services have done a tremendous job to ensure that Russian biathlon is clean and meets international requirements; sweeping accusations and collective responsibility should become a thing of the past. I think if all federations do this, we will see that the first part, associated with thousand lists, should crumble.”
The Russian Biathlon Union refused to hold the Biathlon World Cup in Tyumen this season, as well as to organize the world championship among youth and juniors in Ostrov, writes Gazeta.ru.
The results of the meeting were briefly commented on by IBU President Andres Besseberg. “This is the first important step on the part of the Russian Biathlon Union,” said the functionary. - It shows that the current situation in sports is very serious. Now the biathlon family can focus on biathlon while the investigation continues.”
58 - Internal news page
The International Biathlon Union has called on the International Olympic Committee to recheck the doping samples of all active biathletes from the 2014 Olympic Games.
6:03 22.01.2017
International Union biathletes (IBU) called on the International Olympic Committee(IOC) to recheck the doping samples of all active biathletes from the 2014 Olympic Games. This is stated in the IBU press release following a meeting of the organization's executive committee, which took place on Saturday in Antholz, Italy.
On December 22, the IBU announced that Sochi Olympic medalists Yana Romanova and Olga Vilukhina, who had completed their performances, were temporarily suspended from competition and another 29 athletes were under suspicion. On Saturday, a meeting of the IBU Executive Committee took place in Anterselva, Italy. As a result, it was decided to acquit 22 of the 29 Russian biathletes, whose cases were considered by the IBU expert commission based on the results of the report of the independent WADA commission. The remaining seven will continue to be investigated.
"In light of the IOC's ongoing investigations, the IBU will urge the IOC to retest samples taken during the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi from biathletes who are still competing today," the press release said.
The International Biathlon Union (IBU) will open an official investigation against the Russian Biathlon Union (RBU) into seven cases of doping related to the materials of the report of the independent commission of the World Biathlon Union. anti-doping agency(WADA). "The IBU will open a formal investigation into the RBU. The RBU must ensure that a detailed and documented report is provided in relation to the seven doping cases currently under investigation," the statement said.
The International Biathlon Union will include all biathletes of the Russian national team in the organization’s doping testing pool. “The IBU Executive Committee decided to automatically include all athletes of the Russian Biathlon Union participating in IBU competitions in the organization’s doping testing pool,” the statement said.
The organization will consider the athletes' proposal to tighten penalties for doping violations. "The proposals from the athletes' letter received on January 13th were assessed and taken seriously. They will be sent to the legal committee for the preparation of proposals to the executive committee in order to introduce changes to the rules, which will be considered at the next congress," the IBU said in a statement published at the end of executive committee
Biathletes, on the initiative of two-time Olympic champion Martin Fourcade, put forward a number of demands to the IBU. All of them were outlined in a letter signed by about 170 athletes. The document contains calls to not allow biathletes with doping histories into the Olympic Games and World Championships, to remove those suspected of violating anti-doping rules, to reduce quotas for countries caught doping, and to significantly increase the fine for violations for athletes and federations.
The IBU may hold an extraordinary congress of the organization. “The next meeting of the IBU Executive Committee will be held on February 9 to make further decisions before the World Championships. The possibility of holding an extraordinary IBU Congress will also be discussed,” the statement said. The IBU usually holds its congress every two years. The last congress took place in 2016 in Chisinau.
The International Biathlon Union (IBU) held a meeting of the executive committee to discuss the list of Russian athletes suspected of doping by the head of the independent commission of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Strict sanctions were avoided, but an investigation will be carried out against the Russian Biathlon Union.
On December 15, the IBU received a list of Russian biathletes suspected of violating anti-doping rules from WADA. There are 31 athletes on the list. IBU President Anders Besseberg promised that the organization would make its recommendations in a week, threatening to deprive Russia of the right to host all international competitions, including the World Cup stage in Tyumen and the Junior World Championships in Ostrov scheduled for 2017.
Exactly a week later, on December 22, a special commission of 10 people rendered a verdict. When it was announced, as reported by Championship.com, IBU Vice-President Viktor Maygurov and head of the international department of the RBU Sergei Mnatskanov were asked to leave the hall.
The IBU Executive Committee decided to open a case against two athletes who took part in Olympic Games 2014 in Sochi. They are dealt with by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The organization also decided to launch its own investigation into the activities of the RBU and 29 other biathletes from McLaren’s list who did not participate in the 2014 Olympics.
Without thinking twice, the SBR abandoned the World Cup in Tyumen and the World Youth Championship in Ostrov. The location of these competitions will be announced later.
Photo: Hendrik Schmidt / DPA / Globallookpress.com
“This is the first important step taken by the RBU. The organization has shown the IBU and the entire global sports community that it takes the situation very seriously, which would not allow biathletes to focus only on sport during these competitions,” Besseberg concluded diplomatically, noting that the IBU will take the investigation very seriously.
The list of Russian athletes suspected of doping has not been made public. Besseberg, even before the executive committee meeting, only mentioned that some of the defendants had already been disqualified or had ended their careers. We are most likely talking about Ekaterina Yuryeva, Alexander Loginov, Irina Starykh, Albina Akhatova and Dmitry Yaroshenko, who have already suffered from a doping raid, and Yuryeva twice.
It is clear that the decision to abandon the World Cup and the junior world championship was made under pressure, which intensified significantly the day before the executive committee meeting. Thus, on the eve of the meeting, the Norwegian Biathlon Federation spoke out against Russia.
“Together with the Czech federation, we sent a letter to the IBU, demanding that they immediately take appropriate measures and deprive Russia of the right to all international starts,” said the president of the Norwegian federation, Erlend Slokvik, whose words are quoted by tv2.no.
“In my opinion, first of all, the Russian officials who covered up the use of doping should bear responsibility. In addition, Russia must be deprived of the right to host international competitions for five years. At the same time, I am against collective responsibility; clean athletes must perform,” echoed the President of the Czech Biathlon Federation, Jiri Hamza.
Photo: Chris So / Zumapress / Globallookpress.com
The day before the meeting of the executive committee, talk intensified about possible boycotts of some teams at the World Cup stage in Tyumen, and the teams of the Czech Republic and Great Britain moved from words to action.
“I don’t think that the stage in Tyumen will take place. For the simple reason that biathletes will not come there. The Czechs, of course, will definitely not go to Tyumen. We have already agreed on this,” said Jiri Hamza.
Now neither Tyumen nor the Island will see biathlon. For the Russian side, the decisions made by the IBU Executive Committee can be considered successful. After all, the national team could be suspended from all international competitions, like Russian track and field and weightlifters. The SBR could have been completely excluded from the IBU. Fortunately, none of this happened, at least today. There is no end to this story, and now fans of Russian biathlon are waiting for the results of the IOC and IBU investigation.
Mumu is not a troll, Mumu is a drowned woman!
Bovykin Andrey, Good idea.
Necessary tank biathlon hold at the walls of WADA. Demonstration performances.
IrinaD, it’s better to be in the staff)
Now the question is whether Schlesinger and Bailey will consider this punishment sufficient, otherwise they will be delayed at the start for 5 minutes, as promised, as a protest))) I imagine, in a mass start, for example)))
Dmitry, he didn’t care about your high fives. He clearly said that these are your problems and we are not paying him. And you and I can continue to spread rot and argue about the fairness of the system of selection and respect, but so far no one has answered the question - I send my child to biathlon, I want there to be a World Cup - what should I do? Besides charging someone some money?
Lena, did you say they don’t bend?! Bend and are ready for dialogue!
We lost the competition as expected, ours even refused themselves, that’s right, I think there is no need to escalate the situation with new boycotts. And regarding the athletes, our nervousness will continue, and so will theirs. Fingers will be chopped one by one until: 1) Biathlon World Championships; 2) World Cup; 3) Olympics 2018. Well, we'll wait, there are no other options for fans. Is it possible to raise a wave with a demand to make WADA’s activities more transparent?
I'm glad that ibu didn't cave in to McLaren and Vada
Somehow it’s not just two athletes in particular, which ones? And with the rest, what about when, and so on, and how can the guys perform now, suspended in the air?
Alex Pan, you think correctly. The whole point is how to eat the fish (punish Russia) and not get an answer yourself - COURT... Therefore, they will dig, search, and possibly fabricate evidence, as well as legally depersonalize punishment as much as possible in order to avoid personal (IOC, WADA, IBU, etc.) legal liability from possible lawsuits. AND THE MAIN MAIN thing is NOT TO LOSE MONEY, because this is already at the genetic level, punishment is punishment, and the loot is HOLY))
“They suspended Sasha, who is still far from his ideal condition. And Katya, who is also no longer the leader of our female half. The damage is minimal." -
The damage is minimal! Only one and a half people were killed! I really didn’t think that we have such a slave mentality. Someone here suggested excluding us for 40 years? Driving through the desert...
Elen, as Prince Kyiv said to Ilya Muromets, “a woman (a woman, a boor) was a very necessary unit on a campaign!))
Eh, if only McLaren would help reform the RRF... Then I would give him a “FIVE”!
And for those who are not in the subject, please explain. The doping that was supposedly hidden by substituting urine is not detected in the blood?
Are tubes with urine easier to change than tubes with blood? EPO is probably more effective than the doping that they allegedly tried to hide.
Nick Kuzyansky, they could have banned 31, they could have banned the whole camp from biathlon
We discuss the solution in another news:
More details about the results and decision of the IBU commission in a separate news: website
Yes, in the West, too, the intestines have become thinner). They hung me up slightly, I was afraid of more. Some Mutko, or Kravtsov, or Maigurov can safely hang a medal on their chest - as the saviors of domestic biathlon.
Maria 20120721, it’s more about Glazyrina.
“but really, the results are (to put it mildly) humane” Of course! Of course, “humane!” - they chopped off ONLY TWO fingers! But they could have had as many as 31!
One of the paragraphs of the verdict states that at the moment no decisions on temporary suspension have been made for athletes not related to the Sochi Olympics, but mentioned in the second part of McLaren’s report. That is, we can conclude that two biathletes involved in the Games in Sochi have been suspended.
I'll go hang myself
If Loginov doesn’t start tomorrow at Izhevka, does that mean he’s one of the two?
Alex. Andr., will you take me into the company?)
Loginov and Yuryeva were suspended?
Sergey, the athletes will go to court against the IBU and not McLaren - McLaren is not even an official and is not a legal entity. responsibility for the decisions of the federation.
They will simply recheck the tests, including B samples, analyze blood passports and other aspects.
“As long as the national team is not disqualified, save Mudko, we’ll survive the rest.” - we are ready and agree to anything! - even root for a CASTRATED team! So, go ahead and castrate us further!
And now for people like me, clearly and in Russian... What have you decided?!
Karagodin, do you want to go to Tyumen? It's enough for you and me to rob a stall!)) Southern, black, humor!))
on the remaining 29... the veins will be pulled, further bargaining...
but really, the results are (to put it mildly) humane
Tyumen will organize a commercial race, this cannot be prohibited.
I don’t really feel sorry for our last KM stage either. Because, if you call a spade a spade, then it has long ago turned into a party of the biathlon crowd, in which, as it turned out, there are quite a lot of Russophobes. Let them now replace it with something else - and compare it! I’m sure that they themselves will bite their elbows later
Off topic... I used to think that the most unpleasant biathlete was Pidhrushnaya... Now I’m sure it’s nastier than Gaba SoukouKALOVA - no!
Key:
However, suspicion is not enough to carry out sanctions, and we will continue to go down the professional path, taking into account all opinions, and not act only on suspicion. The correctness of the rules should work in both directions – the guilty and the innocent.”
I’ll say this - if our heroes don’t go to court for Honor and Dignity, as Legkov promised earlier, then they’ll go to...let them turn in whoever they want (if it’s the case), even Putin, but remain athletes.
They probably intimidated the guys there with something. Because the damage from this decision for us is minimal
Elena, they suspended Sasha, who is still far from his ideal condition. And Katya, who is no longer the leader of our female half. The damage is minimal.
The championship in Ostrov and the stage in Tyumen were taken away from Russia. 2 biathletes will be suspended from the competition, the rest will continue to compete.
the fact that the SBR itself abandoned the stage and the World Cup is the result of bargaining. Now you can only demand a penalty from SBR
biathlonworld.com
IBU Press Release: Extraordinary IBU Executive Board Meeting
Decisions on Further Steps Regarding McLaren Report
December, 22 2016
In the light of alarming findings in the second part of McLaren Report (IP Report), the IBU has set its analysis as the top priority and called for the IBU Extraordinary Executive Board (EB) Meeting to decide on further necessary steps. Following a first review of the report, the 127th EB Meeting took place today in Munich, Germany.
The IBU has downloaded and obtained all documents, made available and recommended by WADA. However, at this point in time the final confirmation from WADA and/ or IP Team on whether the available documentation with regard to IBU result management authority is complete has not been received yet.
At the meeting, the proposals of the working group, that was installed on December 12th 2016 by the board and that consists of experts in the field of Anti – Doping with respect to medical, legal and result management experience, were discussed.
The continuous contact and information exchange with WADA and the IOC has been constructive.
Overall, the IBU received Executive Summaries on 31 athletes, one of them competed only at national level, and another one has already been suspended by the RBU for the same sample as reported by McLaren.
After a thorough evaluation of the available data as of today, the Executive Board decided on the following:
1. Taking note of the opening of Disciplinary Proceedings by the IOC against two athletes;
2. Imposing provisional suspensions upon two athletes, as a consequence of the opening of IOC Disciplinary Proceedings;
3. Opening formal investigations by the IBU against RBU and 29 athletes listed in the McLaren Report 2 (comparable to cases where there is a positive lab report) for cases not related to the Olympic Winter Games Sochi 2014 (which includes the two athletes named above), i. e.
i. notification of each respective athlete and the Russian Federation,
ii. setting a time limit for commenting on the allegation,
iii. further investigation by the IBU Anti-doping administration and the working group;
iv. decision whether or not a charge should be to the Anti - Doping Hearing Panel (further referred to filed as ADHP);
v. adjudication of the case by the ADHP, if applicable, subject to appeal to the CAS.
4. Provisional Suspensions of athletes named by the McLaren Report 2 outside of the Olympic Winter Games Sochi 2014 were not imposed at this point in time.
The Executive Board tasked the working group to investigate further. A decision whether or not a charge should be to the ADHP will be filed in cooperation with legal experts and WADA, who offered to assist the IBU.
Today, the RBU informed the IBU that the Youth and Junior World Championships 2017 that was originally assigned to Ostrov and the BMW IBU World Cup 8 in 2017 that was assigned to Tyumen are given back to the IBU.
The relocation of both above mentioned events will be decided upon later.
IBU President Anders Besseberg stated after the meeting:
“This is a first important step by the Russian Biathlon Union to show to the IBU and to the world of sport that the current situation is taken very seriously. This will now allow the international biathlon family to focus on biathlon during these events.
Findings of the McLaren Report indicated severe problems in Russian sport and it`s Anti – Doping control system. IBU takes all available information very seriously; it is now on us to find out in detail the scale of the problem in Russian Biathlon.
The IBU has always demonstrated zero-tolerance towards doping at all levels by extending the two year ban on a former IBU official, Gottlieb Taschler to all IBU competitions until 12th June 2018. The fight against doping is not an easy one but one of our top priorities. It is important in order to ensure the future of our sport and maintain the trust of our teams, athletes, member federations, partners and fans.
All athletes deserve that we avoid having any shadow on their performance and that they can compete without any doubts and can completely concentrate on their sport activities.
However, suspicion is not enough to implement the sanctions and we will keep going down a professional pathway, considering all opinions, but not acting on suspicion only. Correctness of Rules has to work both ways – for the guilty and for the non – guilty.”
The IBU will keep the public informed on further steps and on biathlonworld. com
Broadcast
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Gazeta.Ru ends the online broadcast of the IBU meeting, but continues to monitor the situation.
An emergency meeting of the IBU ended in Munich, at which the issue of removing 31 Russian biathletes mentioned in the second part of McLaren’s report from performing at international competitions was considered. As a result, only two of them were temporarily disqualified. An official investigation has been opened against the rest. In addition, the RBU refused to host the World Cup in Tyumen and the World Youth Championship in Khanty-Mansiysk.
There are rumors that, in parallel, the International Skating Union (ISU) has moved the final stage of the Speed Skating World Cup from Chelyabinsk.
The results of the meeting were briefly commented on by IBU President Andres Besseberg. “This is the first important step on the part of the Russian Biathlon Union,” said the functionary. - It shows that the current situation in sports is very serious. Now the biathlon family can focus on biathlon while the investigation continues.”
The venue for the Russian stage of the World Cup will be determined later. The question of canceling the tournament has not yet been discussed.
In addition, a special investigation by the IBU will be carried out against the RBU and 29 biathletes. Let us recall that in the second part of the report of WADA expert McLaren, 31 domestic biathletes appeared.
According to Match TV, two Russian biathletes have been temporarily suspended from competition. Their names have not yet been announced.
OFFICIALLY
The SBR refused to host the 2017 Biathlon World Cup in Tyumen. 2 athletes will be temporarily suspended from competition pic.twitter.com/wVNBD8jn7f
— Match TV (@MatchTV) December 22, 2016
And here is the long-awaited news! According to Championship.com, the Russian Biathlon Union refused to hold the Biathlon World Cup in Tyumen this season, as well as to organize the world championship among youth and juniors in Ostrov. It is clear that the decision was made under pressure: a number of national teams threatened to boycott the Tyumen stage. We are waiting for developments.
The IBU continues to remain silent.
We just state: there is no news at quarter past eight.
No information...
One can only guess what caused such a long pause. It was understood that the decision would be announced at 19:00. It is possible that the assessors do not have a common opinion on this issue.
Let's turn to the next insider from Championship.com. According to the portal, both representatives of Russia - IBU Vice-President Viktor Maigurov and the head of the international department of the RBU Sergei Mnatskanov - were asked to leave the hall during the announcement of the decision.
There is no solution yet. The official IBU bulletins are silent. We wait...
15 minutes of waiting left. In fact, the IBU decision is known in theory; all that remains is to wait for the official results.
President of the Czech Biathlon Union Jiri Hamza continues to call for depriving Russia of the right to host major international competitions, but considers it wrong to punish the entire Russian team “In my opinion, first of all, Russian officials who covered up the use of doping should be punished.
Russia should also lose the right to host major competitions for five years,” sport.idnes.cz quoted Hamza as saying. According to the German press, the local ski union refused to make any statements
until the official decision of the IBU Executive Committee.
According to Championship.com, the official part of the meeting is over, the report has been heard. Probably, at these moments, measures are being discussed that should be taken regarding the RBU and the Russian biathlon team. The decision on the admission of Russian biathletes to the January World Cup stages will definitely be made today.
This was announced by the President of the Swedish Biathlon Federation, Vice-President of the IBU Olle Dahlin. He chose not to comment on the boycott situation, ABC Nyheter reports. Let us note that the next, fourth stage of the Biathlon World Cup will take place in early January in Oberhof. Its schedule is already known, but whether the Russians will perform there is not yet known. However, there is not long to wait for the verdict to be announced. Just two hours... 4th stage
January 2-8, Oberhof, Germany
January 5 - sprint (men) January 6 - sprint (women) January 7 - pursuit (men) January 7 - pursuit (women) January 8 - mass start (men) January 8 - mass start (women) The Chairman of the State Duma Committee spoke on the current situation Mikhail Degtyarev
“We, for our part, insist on moving away from the practice of collective responsibility of athletes, we protest against segregation on national, racial and ethnic principles,” Sport-Express quotes Degtyarev. — Boycott as a tool in itself is counterproductive. It shows the weakness of some national federations. But this is their right, and it is very difficult to influence the situation in this case. Western federations, unfortunately, violate the fundamental principles of sport by making illegal decisions against entire countries and teams. But politics is present in all world sports - from bobsleigh to football, so we must end with the mantra “sport is beyond politics.” Sport has always been and will be one of the tools of political struggle. This means that we need to take tougher positions on all negotiating issues and introduce our functionaries into international organizations. And only English-speaking young people with a crystal reputation can be introduced there, preferably with Olympic medals. We have plenty of them.”
It is very interesting that among the supporters of the boycott of the World Cup stage in Tyumen there was no Ukrainian Biathlon Federation, whose president Vladimir Brynzak called for first to wait for the results of the proceedings. “If there is evidence, let them be punished as it should be,” obozrevatel.com quotes the words of the functionary. -What should we boycott? Once they make a decision, then we will see what happens in the world. Now everyone is talking a lot, but I don’t want to talk, but to do what is necessary at the appropriate moment.”
The Czech national team has already announced that will not go to Tyumen if the World Cup stage is held there. The odious legend of Russian biathlon Alexander Tikhonov commented on this in his own style: “Jiri Hamza (president of the Czech Biathlon Federation) is a bad basketball player and a bad winemaker. He used to play bad basketball, and now he’s a winemaker who makes bad wine. For some reason he is inciting other countries now. The fact that the Czech Republic abandoned the stage in Tyumen means one thing: there will be more space. Only Czech athletes will suffer from this. Apparently, Hamza wants to get the world championship in Nove Mesto.”
Alexander Pak, member of the SBR board, shares the same opinion.
“I don’t think anything global will be announced. Regarding the boycott of the Czech Republic, they have their own interest, because they lost the fight for the World Cup to Tyumen. It is impossible to say for sure whether the countries that want to boycott the competition are right. It's their right. But first it is necessary to prove the involvement of Russian athletes in doping manipulations. The presumption of innocence must apply here. So far, there is no evidence other than the names indicated in the report,” he said in an interview with Sport-Express.
— It’s too early to talk about a global boycott; we must wait for evidence and decisions. There is no need to panic. It is not known whether biathletes even participated in the manipulation of samples, because their job is to train and take doping tests. And what they do with them next: how they are collected, how they are transported, how they are checked - this is not the business of the athletes. If we take the right measures, there is no need to fear for the 2021 World Cup.”
Well-known biathlon journalist, Match TV employee Ilya Trifanov shares his insight that today no harsh sanctions are expected, especially for athletes. Let's wait and see.
One of the few who categorically spoke out against the complete removal of the Russian team from biathlon competitions was IOC President Thomas Bach. However, his statements did not become popular, and now 24 anti-doping organizations, including the British and American agencies, have expressed disappointment with Bach’s decision to refuse them a meeting to discuss the problem of reforming the system.
“The heads of national anti-doping agencies are disappointed that Bach was unable to accept our invitation to meet. The emergence of the second part of the McLaren report and the urgent need for reforms in the anti-doping system only increase the importance of the conversation between the agencies and the head of the IOC,” The Guardian quotes the text of a joint statement by the upset organizations.
We have a rather long day ahead, because the announcement of the IBU decision is scheduled for 19.00 Moscow time. Now the anti-doping commission of the International Biathlon Union has just gathered for its meeting - a significant one for the entire Russian and world biathlon.
It is doubly offensive that, due to recent events, the results of the Russian national team in the World Cup have remained in the shadows. Anton Babikov has already won among the men, Tatyana Akimova recorded the victory and podium among the women, and Anton Shipulin has gained shape and is beginning to put pressure on the incomparable Martin Fourcade. It would be an incredible pity if “pure” Russian athletes find themselves out of the game...
Even now, when it is difficult to assess what the final decision will be, it seems quite obvious that the World Cup stage and the Junior World Cup will be taken away from Russia. And here the locomotive and beacon for the IBU is the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation, which moved its upcoming world championship from Sochi.
“I was shocked by this information that appeared a week ago. But then information appeared that this number included athletes who had already completed their careers, as well as those who competed only in domestic competitions. After that I let go a little,” he said, “ Soviet sports» double Olympic champion Sergey Chepikov. “But there is still a chance that we will not be allowed to participate in the World Cup. But the worst thing is if collective responsibility is included and our entire team is not allowed to participate in the 2018 Olympics.”
However, not everyone is afraid of the team being completely suspended. Thus, the famous coach Dmitry Alikin believes that it will not come to this. Indeed, I really wouldn’t want Anton Shipulin and other athletes who are not involved in this story to suffer.
The decision will be made today at 15.00 Moscow time, but in the meantime there are alarming news from other sports. So, today in the Swedish Expressen some specifics appeared on the names of Russian skiers encoded in the report, who, according to McLaren’s group, were involved in manipulation of doping tests.
It's about leading Russian skiers Maxim Vylegzhanin, Alexander Legkov and Nikita Kryukov. For example, Vylegzhanin, according to the publication, took anabolic steroid trimetazidine, the use of which is subject to a 4-year disqualification. The athlete used the drug a month before the Games, and then his doping samples were manipulated in the laboratory. Vylegzhanin won three silver medals in Sochi 2014.
“The prospects for this case are difficult to assess unambiguously,” said Vladimir Starinsky, managing partner of the Starinsky, Korchago and Partners bar association. - It is only obvious that Russian athletes It is unlikely that it will be possible to use such a move as a reference to the expiration of the statute of limitations (in accordance with Article 16 of the IBU Anti-Doping Rules, they are eight years. - Gazeta.Ru). There are chances that biathletes will be able to avoid sanctions or mitigate them if it is proven that the prohibited substance was used through no fault or negligence of theirs (Article 10.5.1 of these rules). Likewise, athletes have a chance to prove the insignificant nature of their guilt, which would allow them to reduce the period of disqualification to half the required period (Article 10.5.2 of these rules). However, whether athletes will be able to take advantage of this “window of opportunity” depends on the persuasiveness of the arguments they present.”
Let's remember that it all started after the second part of Richard McLaren's report on the use of doping in Russian sports. It was about Sochi 2014 and just about winter species sports. A study by Professor McLaren and his group, for which $1.8 million in anti-doping money was allocated, found the participation of 31 (!) Russian biathletes in various doping stories. We are talking about both athletes and sportswomen who have already completed their careers, as well as those who are racing in the World Cup now. But there are also athletes on the list who performed (or continue to perform) only in the domestic arena, without ever reaching international competitions.
IBU President Anders Besseberg quickly issued a statement that his organization would carefully study all the facts presented in the report and then make an informed decision. Subsequently, the tone of Besseberg’s statements only became harsher, moreover, the head of the IBU stated that his organization received additional data from the World Anti-Doping Agency that was not in McLaren’s report. What kind of data this is, one can only guess.
Hello, dear fans! Welcome to text broadcast today's biathlon events. Everything looks very alarming, but in fact it could become very sad if the International Biathlon Union (IBU) decides to exclude the entire Russian team from participating in the World Cup! The holding of the World Cup in Tyumen and the Junior World Championship in Ostrov in 2017 is also in question. Alexander Sedov will follow the developments with you.
Text broadcast of the decision on the fate of Russian biathlon.
Online starts at 14.00 Moscow time.