An extremely unhealthy atmosphere has recently developed in world sports. The passions around the so-called "McLaren report", which accused dozens of leading Russian athletes of doping and other violations of the rules, have led athletes from other countries to consider themselves entitled to make statements to the Russians that border on rudeness.
French biathlete Aristide Begu reacted extremely painfully to the defeat from the Russian Alexandra Loginova at the next stage of the IBU Cup in the Italian city of Martell.“Losing to the strongest - yes! Lose to a cheater - no!" - on Twitter.
At the stage in Martell, Loginov won the sprint and the pursuit race, and Begu took 8th and 6th places in these races, respectively.
The IBU Cup is, figuratively speaking, the second division of the world biathlon. Athletes who, by their results, do not fall into the main squad of the national teams participating in the World Cup participate in this tournament.
22-year-old Aristide Begu won the pursuit at the IBU Cup stage in Ridnaun, Italy in December 2016. After that, the athlete was included in the French team for the World Cup stage in Nove Mesto, but Begu did not succeed in showing himself successfully, and he returned to performances in IBU Cup.
Alexander Loginov: the fall of Russian hope
However, here Begu has a new competitor - 24-year-old Russian Alexander Loginov. Rather, the competitor is old, but temporarily absent.
Loginov was considered one of the most talented young biathletes in Russia. He four-time champion world juniors and five-time champion Europe among juniors. Loginov made his debut as part of the main Russian national team in 2013, in December of the same year he won the relay race at the World Cup stage as part of the Russian national team. Loginov was part of the Russian national team at the 2014 Olympics, but did not shine, but at the World Cup stages after the Games he became second twice - in the sprint in Kontiolahti and in the pursuit race in Homenkollen.
Alexander Loginov (Russia) at a training session of the Russian national biathlon team before the start XXII winter Olympic Games in Sochi. Photo: RIA Novosti / Ilya Pitalev
The fairy tale ended when the Russian Biathlon Union (RBU) received information from the IBU about a suspicious doping result taken from an athlete out of competition on November 26, 2013. In November 2014, the IBU decided to re-analyze suspicious doping samples based on new methodologies. Five of these samples tested positive, including a Loginov sample taken in November 2013. international union biathletes (IBU) informed the RRF about the detection in the sample of an athlete, a prohibited drug - recombinant erythropoietin.
The Anti-Doping Committee decided to disqualify the suspended Alexander Loginov for two years from the date of re-analysis of the sample, which gave a positive result.
On July 10, 2015, by decision of the IBU, Loginov was disqualified until November 25, 2016. All results of the athlete, starting from the moment of sampling in November 2013, are invalidated.
The Russian "served", but the biathlon stars demand to punish him for life
It so happened that while the passions around the Russians were gaining momentum, Loginov was serving a sentence that ended just at the end of 2016. That is, at the moment when the question arose of the possible disqualification of the Russian biathlon team in full force.
Even in Russia, there were many sports journalists who felt that Loginov's return to the Russian national team was unethical. What can we say about representatives of other countries!
One of the leading biathletes in the world Johannes Be stated that Loginov should be disqualified for life. In an interview with the Norwegian media, Be said that he "does not want to see Loginov at the World Cup anymore."
Should we then be surprised at the statements of Aristide Begu?
To put it bluntly, the situation is ugly. On the one hand, the anger of athletes who consider themselves "clean" from doping is understandable. On the other hand, Loginov, as they say, "served his time", and double punishment for the same sin is considered nonsense by lawyers around the world.
Loginov was attacked not only by Be, but also by senior comrade Aristide Begu, the leader of the World Cup Martin Fourcade. Back in mid-December 2016, he wrote on the social network about his dissatisfaction with the fact that an athlete who was caught doping two years ago was competing at the IBU Cup.
Fourcade has a lot of fans in Russia, who then responded to the idol in unflattering tones. So much so that Fourcade himself decided to explain himself to them in a special address. “Unfortunately, one Russian athlete who competed today at the IBU Cup was caught doping (EPO) only 2 years ago. I sincerely believe that managers and coaches Russian Federation biathlon send the wrong signal, allowing him to compete again at this troubled time. My doping intolerance has never been and never will be focused on Russia. I adhered to the same position in relation to the doping scandals that were in Germany, Norway, Ukraine, Lithuania and also in France, ”Fourcade explained.
“I don’t trust anyone in this team anymore”
Extremely harsh statements are heard not only against Loginov. The wave raised by the “McLaren report”, in which the names of about three dozen Russian biathletes appear, made, for example, a previously very modest Czech Gabriela Koukalova.
“I don’t trust anyone in this team, sorry,” the athlete said, speaking about the Russian team in an interview with the Championship.com portal. - When people and teams do not respect the international anti-doping rules, they should not compete with us. It’s hard for me to explain this in English, but we should also talk about a team in which too many athletes were caught doping.” At the same time, the biathlete honestly admitted that she did not know which specific Russian athletes were doping and whether there was evidence of their guilt.
As you can see, the persecution of Russians is now in vogue, and is it worth it to blame the young Frenchman Begue that he succumbed to the general mood.
Only one thing is not clear - what should Alexander Loginov do? Voluntarily renounce biathlon? Go to a monastery? bequeath recent victories frustrated Aristide Begu? After all, on this moment, having served his sentence, the athlete started everything from scratch, and there are no doubts about the honesty of his current victories, at least not yet. Even if such a measure as a lifelong suspension from biathlon for the first violation of anti-doping rules is introduced now, it cannot apply to Loginov, since the law does not have retroactive effect.
However, present times in sports, this is not a story about the law, but about the inquisition. And the role of the inquisitor in relation to the Russians is ready to try on all and sundry.
Two-time world champion Dmitry Yaroshenko, in an interview with Sportbox.ru, explained why he does not train children, recalled the scandal in which he was the main participant, and also expressed his opinion on the greatness of Martin Fourcade and Ole Einar Bjoerndalen.
“After 15 years, you can start training kids”
– After completing my sports career, I worked for three years in the Administration of the city of Khanty-Mansiysk, being responsible for the development physical culture and sports. Now for the second year I have been working at AU "UgraMegaSport" - this is one of the largest organizations in Russia, which holds at the highest level not only district competitions, but also all-Russian and international sports events. For example, such as World Chess Championships, World Cups in biathlon, water polo, streetworkout, Russian championships in ski race. On modern sports facilities that meet all international standards, not only children and national teams of various types sports, but also training events of the national teams of Russia.
I want to note that from March 1 to March 9, Khanty-Mansiysk successfully hosted the II All-Russian Winter Spartakiad disabled people, which received a huge number of positive feedback. Officials, guests and participants of the competition thanked the Government of our district headed by N.V. Komarova and YugraMegaSport for high level holding.
- Did you have a desire to start coaching after the end of your career?
I was thinking of training. And there were even some proposals that came to naught.
- Which for example?
- There was an offer to lead the biathlon team of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. But things did not go further than a proposal, or rather, an idea. And I, of course, will not offer myself. If they did not see me as a person who could fix training process Well, it means they didn't see it. I am often asked if I would like to train children. I will be able to train children in 10-20 years. But at the moment, especially after the end of a career, when you are full of ideas and knowledge that are relevant, they should be given not to children, but to active professionals. It's the same as teaching higher mathematics in primary school. By virtue of their education, children simply will not understand anything. Therefore, if you train now, then you need to work, at least with juniors. In 15 years, when my knowledge becomes irrelevant, then, probably, you can start training kids.
I would also like to note the following trend: despite a large number of various training systems for athletes, all of them, in essence, are based on the Soviet school. Without hard work it is impossible to become a champion. And now they want to train with minimal loads, to make it fun. In pleasure - this is only a small period of time after the recovery period, when you enter a new training process. What happens next is not about pleasure at all. Therefore, I believe that if you engage in pleasure, then there will be no result.
I trained with the guys from the Soviet national team -, - I saw how they train. All of them, and I, along with them, trained according to the Soviet system. Now we have tried a lot of things, but it seems that you still need to train a lot, and not for pleasure. If you endure in training, you will endure in competition. If you are lazy in training, how will you force yourself to endure in the race?
- Have you received any offers from the Russian national team?
– There are many young coaches in the Russian national team. However, there is one trend. Of course, I don’t want to criticize anyone, because this is a thankless task, but when they ask about the reasons for an unsuccessful performance at one stage or another, the following question arises: if you didn’t train anyone, you weren’t a great athlete yourself, then how can you train the national team ? Of course, it is not at all necessary that a great coach comes out of a great athlete.
If Yaroshenko were to work for the national team now, it would be only, perhaps, as an expert or consultant. But this should be done exclusively next to the lump trainer. Then it would be really interesting to work, study, gain experience. And if they put you in as a head coach, when you and your athletes don’t have your own, then ...
Look at the system in biathlon. The coach leads the athlete, nurtures him, then sends him to the national team and thinks that he will run there just as well as his. But often the opposite happens. I don’t have any wards at all, so they didn’t call me.
“Russians with golden hands and golden brains work for significantly less money”
- Who is a block coach in Russia for you?
“Perhaps I overdid it too much. The lump trainer is the great Tarasov,. They are truly blocks in the sport. In biathlon, coaches with good experience are this, this. Andrey Alexandrovich, being a shooting coach, always inspired us with calmness. At the sighting before the 2008 World Cup relay in Östersund, when we had to defend the title of world champions and when everyone was shaking, he gave us confidence with his attitude and his experience.
One of the troubles in Russia is that we change coaches too often to be able to say: yes, this is a lump coach. We often do not even allow a person to open up. Once - and you were removed. This is depressing.
Very experienced trainer— Vladimir Bragin. Under his leadership, the entire Ugra men's team showed stable results. Now he is in the national team, he trains with. The coach, in my opinion, should be a stone back that you can go behind. Because athletes don't always win. When you lose, you become naked, and it seems to you that everyone is ready to point a finger at you and criticize. At such times, the support of a coach is very necessary.
The most talented coach is. No matter how our great athletes treat him, he is very talented and is an adherent of the Soviet school.
When you, an athlete, lose, you will always be rejected. The coach always has to answer. He can be fired, the athlete - no. Therefore, it turns out that, unfortunately, we always have a good athlete. No one will ask him what he did not finish, why he began to snot-drool. By and large, the coach will always be to blame.
– How do you feel about attracting foreign specialists?
- I have a positive attitude if it does not harm, as it was with some involved specialists. There is also a huge financial difference. "Newcomers" are always provided with incomparably better conditions.
- I dare to assume that we are talking about the notorious Swedish coach?
- Including about him. But he wasn't the only one. I will not name positions, but there were many such people. But now they are not in the national team, and the remaining Russians with golden hands and golden brains continue to work for significantly less money. I know firsthand how sensitive specialists with Russian passports react to this. Wings don't grow out of it. On the contrary, you feel like some kind of humiliated, second-rate person.
– How would you rate the performance of the men's and women's teams at the World Championships in Hochfilzen?
- Men - four. Up to "excellent" was not enough individual medal. Girls… You see, you can’t put “unsatisfactory” either: everyone is trying, everyone is working. Yes, in mixed relay the medal is a merit to a greater extent of the guys, but after all, they were there. Probably, after all, "satisfactory". The fact is that before the world championships there are a lot of forecasts. I predicted bronze in the mixed and hoped that the girls would compete in their relay.
“I thought it was just a bad joke”
- If not for biathlon, where would we see Dmitry Yaroshenko?
- At the age of 25, when I was very bad at biathlon, I had a crazy desire to become a doctor. I felt inwardly that I really wanted to be a doctor. My parents are doctors. But then I realized that I would not give up. And he continued his career as a biathlete.
- Compared to the times when you competed, the results of the women's team have changed a lot. What's happening?
- I went to the European Championship and followed our team a little. If we compare at least the course of foreigners and ours, then the difference is visible to the naked eye. No matter how our fans and the girls themselves treat me after these words of mine, but they should look like men. I mean muscular. They should do push-ups on the uneven bars, they should pull themselves up. Let someone tell me that, or did not do it. They have to do it by definition. On another it is impossible. But these sluggish accompanying hand movements ... They should be similar to, to. Or be as thin and wiry as. Look at her! Not an ounce of excess fat, only muscles.
We need to do more OFP. The real OFP, which was given by the same Polkhovsky. Previously, for example, women trained with men. And they did more OFP than us to develop their shoulder girdle. and other girls kindly annoyed us, because with them we couldn’t even mess up.
And if we look at the current women's team, who can even train with the junior men's team? Let's be honest - no one can. Now we have women - these are girls, they are young ladies. But you will finish a tough workout, put on your dresses only then and be beautiful.
It seems to me that it's time for our coaches to stop lisping with athletes and recruit those who will really sweat and plow. And now you look at some - as if they came from a sanatorium. In such cases, you should probably be sent to the Russian Cup, where there is an army of hungry athletes who will “eat” you. After all, the conditions at the World Cup and the Russian Cup are completely different. We don't have fresh juice, fried eggs and sausages for breakfast. I remember very well the differences in living conditions "there" and "here".
- You remembered Albina Akhatova. I can't help but ask you a question about the situation you found yourself in at the same time. Is the one doping scandal sore subject for you?
- No, this is absolutely not a sore point for me. At first I didn’t believe it at all, I thought that this simply couldn’t be. He repeatedly stated that we didn’t do anything to ourselves, we had a doctor who, knowing all the illegal drugs, would not give us anything bad. We tested at any time of the day. Everyone knew where we were.
When I found out, I thought it was just a bad joke. After a positive A sample, everyone was sure that it was a mistake and that the B sample would definitely be negative. With her, the situation was generally incomprehensible, she was not opened for a very long time. Only the name of the banned drug was changed five times. Then we went to the hearings, where we told the absolute truth, how it all happened. But this did not affect the decision of the collegium in Salzburg - we were disqualified. Of course, it was psychologically difficult ...
Then I felt like an outcast. Until now, after some interviews, he is called a dopingist. I really wanted to return to the previous level. Yes, and there were prerequisites - he became a three-time world champion in summer biathlon. But in the end, it failed.
- Why didn't it work?
- At that time, strong young guys came to the national team, who were objectively stronger. And my teammates - , - objectively did not compete with those guys who went to Vancouver. Perhaps if I had excellent individual conditions, like, for example, something could work out. Now, after three years, I do not regret that I ended my career and began to realize myself in another field. Fortunately, I repeat, I was invited to a good position, where I gained tremendous managerial experience.
At first, when I finished, I practically did not watch biathlon. Because I wanted to run, I wanted to compete at the Olympic Games. I often dreamed about how I conquer Olympic medal. And then I woke up and felt very disappointed that this was a dream.
Of course, it is gnawing that this medal is not there. It's a pity that on my sports career this spot was placed. Before that, for some reason, I justified myself, but now I don’t want to do this anymore. I consider myself a smart person and, knowing that I was tested very often, I always provided information about where I was. And at the same time taking illegal drugs ... We trusted our doctor. And to accept something, knowing that it is forbidden, is nonsense and absurdity.
I understand that if I hid or cheated something, and then told fairy tales that I got it through lipstick or cream, that would be fun. But I did not hide from anyone and did not hide anything. I knew that I was taking the drug for recovery, but, as it turned out later, the samples were positive.
“Shipulin will be rewarded in Korea”
- What can you advise Alexander Loginov and Irina Starykh, who found themselves in a similar situation?
– From what I see, for example, a lot of people support me. When Yaroshenko gave an interview, he was almost always called a dopingist. Now I’m already laughing, because I understand that there are resources for which, even if you are an angel, you will still remain a goat.
Now you can draw an interesting analogy with Trump, who became president, how many negative comments and statements there were! Even more after taking office. But the man is doing his job. I wish Loginov to abstract from this and understand what they are doing in the national team, what they are there for. There will be sidelong glances, someone will not say hello, but if you want to become an Olympic champion, go to her. Because in addition to a handful of dissatisfied people, there is a huge army of fans for whom it is necessary to perform. Some of them still write words of gratitude to me: “Thank you, thanks to you we began to watch and get involved in biathlon.” You won't be good for everyone. The dog barks - the caravan moves on. Moreover, the worst they have already passed.
When I arrived after the disqualification in Ruhpolding, for the World Cup, I thought that everyone was eating me with their eyes, it was very unpleasant. But there was a group of local cheerleaders - older women. They knew me by name and when they saw me again, they had no negative feelings towards me. Many Germans came up to me to take pictures.
Probably, I received the most negativity just from the good Russian fans. When you are a champion, everyone loves you. As soon as you stumble a little, they try to finish you even harder. And I'm not talking about doping now. We must understand that doping is a taboo. It's a shame and a dirty stain.
- What is your opinion on the conflict between our guys and Martin Fourcade at the World Championships?
- I believe that in this situation, the one who acted as a lightning rod suffered the most. Anton rocked himself on these waves. Loginov won a medal and somehow stayed on the sidelines. And all the emotional burden remained on Anton. This is a very significant outburst of emotions that you were definitely not saving up for this.
Shipulin - a man with a big soul, a real captain, stood up for a team member and will receive all the negativity.
- What does Anton lack in order to become truly great?
- Think. that he has enough. This situation reminds me of . Offensive fourth places, falls. But in the end, the gold of the Olympics. It seems to me that fate is testing Anton. I believe that such a good person as Anton Shipulin will be rewarded in Korea.
“Bjoerndalen is now a pitiful sight”
- What do you think about the continuation of Bjoerndalen's career?
- For me now it's a pitiful sight. I ran with him when he was great. I remember looking at him breathlessly. I remember what emotions I experienced when this great athlete took a picture with me. And now it is more and more like kicking a lying person. If he had left earlier, unattainable, a demigod, that would be a different matter.
He won a medal at the World Cup only because he is not in the Russian team. If he were with us, he would have had to break through the sieve of selections a long time ago and he would not have made his way. Bjoerndalen is a great athlete. But the great ones must go. How did it, for example,. And now his name is being devalued. Now a parody of the great Bjoerndalen is running. Nothing prevents you from leaving and meeting with children, coming on TV.
It has long been compared who is cooler - and Bjoerndalen. And, the more often the Frenchman beats him, the less significant the figure of the Norwegian becomes.
- What is the Fourcade phenomenon? Why does a man win six World Cups in a row?
– He is unique. But you know what I would like to say: now more and more often we hear about therapeutic assumptions. I have big questions about people with mononucleosis and winning more than a minute in perfectly healthy people. Interesting stories have congenital elevated hemoglobin. Apparently, abnormal deviations in health can make it possible to become a unique athlete. And then we find out that many legendary people had therapeutic licenses to take illegal drugs.
Against the backdrop of all this is impressive. With great pleasure I watched and worried about him. No one will say about Sergei that he has permits, that he, poor man, suffers from mononucleosis or asthma. Therefore, the Fourcade phenomenon... It's great. I hope that such phenomena will grow in our country as well.
Andrey Levin, Sportbox.ru
“We know who was doping. He is suspended pending clarification,” the IBU office said and lit the fuse. It should take off very soon, and this will happen on the eve of the World Cup in Norway. This is not the first time doping stories in biathlon have surfaced on the eve of the main starts of the season - the World Championships and the Olympic Games. This tradition has been going on for over 10 years. In anticipation of the announcement of the name of the perpetrator, let us recall similar cases.
2003. "Akhatova on the needle"
The first known doping scandal erupted in the Russian team after the World Cup in Antholz shortly before the World Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk. Then one of the contenders for victory in overall standings Albina Akhatova passed a positive test for nikethamide. One of the largest newspapers in the country published an article under the heading "Akhatova on the needle." However, after some time it turned out that the athlete was injected with the drug after the race due to poor health (low blood pressure). Since the Russian Biathlon Union did not complete the necessary documents on time, he was fined, but the athlete was acquitted and won two gold medals in Khanty-Mansiysk.
2008. "Uncaught" Waris
The first doping disqualification forced the Finnish skier Kaisu Waris go to biathlon. At first, she did not succeed in shooting, but in January 2008 she unexpectedly won the sprint, after which she passed a positive test for erythropoietin. The International Biathlon Union initially disqualified the athlete for life,
but then Varys's lawyers got hung up on the fact that she was not present at the autopsy of the B sample, and therefore it cannot be considered positive. Thus, the Finn was formally acquitted, but her own federation did not want to allow the recidivist and her boyfriend and doctor Kari-Pekku Kure to the national team within a shot.
2009. The loudest scandal
The then leaders of the Russian national team Albina Akhatova, Dmitry Yaroshenko And Ekaterina Yurieva tested positive back in December, when the IBU adopted new anti-doping rules to allow samples to be taken on out-of-competition days. In fact, a blow was dealt to fans of injecting erythropoietin, which significantly changed the balance of power in world biathlon. At the tip of the iceberg were the Russians, who were removed from the race just a few days before the start of the World Cup in Pyeongchang. Long legal proceedings did not lead to anything, and the whole trio received two years of disqualification. Soon, the RRF, as part of the RusADA cleansing operation, identified two more violators in the domestic arena - Andrey Prokunin and Veronika Timofeeva.
2014. Old rake
On the eve of preparations for Olympic Games in Sochi, the Russian Biathlon Union stepped on the old rake. recent reservists Irina Starykh and Ekaterina Yuryeva sharply improved with the start of the season and made an application for getting into national team, and already in January it became known about their positive tests, also associated with EPO. Starykh received three years of disqualification, and Yuryeva eight years for a second case, which actually marked the end of her career. Later, during the re-analysis, another violator was caught - Alexander Loginov also received three years. In addition to the Russians on the eve of the Olympics, the Lithuanian Karolis Zlatkauskas was also caught.
2015. Father answered for his son
The main news of last season was the involvement of the Tashler family in working with the odious doctor Michele Ferrari. As the Italian La Gazzetta dello Sport found out, IBU vice-president Gottlieb Taschler turned to the doctor with a request to help his son, a promising biathlete Daniel Tashler, take advantage of EPO. The newspaper published a transcript of the conversation, in which the doctor explained to the official how to properly bypass doping tests. In addition to his son, Tashler apparently asked for a son-in-law - an Austrian skier Johannes Dür, who was caught on the eve of the Games in Sochi. As a result, Taschler Jr. was suspended from the competition, and his father from work at the IBU, which did not prevent him from remaining on the organizing committee of the World Cup in Antholz.
2016. Who is Mr. X
Right now we can only speculate about what is possible. Official representatives of the Russian and German federations have already denied the version of the involvement of their athletes. The possible circle of violators is limited by the number of athletes who suddenly stopped the competition and did not go to North America. It is unlikely that one of the superstars will be among them, as the Norwegians are calmly preparing for the home World Cup and are giving interviews, Jacob Fak honestly admitted about the disease, and his current results speak more about anti-doping. Otherwise, representatives of the middle and small classes are under suspicion. There is not much time before the opening of sample B, and therefore the name of the intruder will soon become known and will explain a lot.
Next week, the executive committee of the International Biathlon Union (IBU) will hold a regular meeting on the issue of doping - and invited athletes to it. Today it became known that more than 170 biathletes have signed an appeal to the IBU demanding to take more decisive action against doping scandals.
WHERE IT ALL STARTED
In December, after the release of the second part of the report of an independent expert, Russian sports were accused of an organized system of doping fraud during, as well as before and after the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi. According to a Canadian lawyer, it affects three dozen sports and more than a thousand athletes. Under suspicion are 28 Russian participants in the Sochi Games, whose cases were opened by the International Olympic Committee. As you know, two of them are biathletes.
WADA submitted to the IBU a list of 31 Russian athletes suspected of violating anti-doping rules. On December 22, the IBU Executive Committee held an unscheduled meeting, as a result of which it became known: Russia returned the rights to two international biathlon starts - the 2016/17 World Cup stage in Tyumen and the Youth and Youth World Championships in Ostrov, while retaining the World Championship entrusted to Tyumen -2021.
The IBU Executive Board decided to continue the investigation into the cases of athletes - and the lack of immediate and decisive action in the matter Russian doping led to a number of high-profile statements from representatives of the leading teams, from the Frenchman and the leaders of the Czech team. Among other things, the participation in the IBU Cup of the former doping ban was actively discussed. However, the issue of a boycott of competitions by biathlon stars, despite a number of emotional statements, is not yet on the table.
The next meeting of the executive committee members IBU - January 21 in Anterselva (Antholz), Italy. It will make further decisions on the second part of the McLaren report, and not only officials, but also team representatives and current athletes are invited to participate in an open dialogue.
WHO SAID WHAT
I agree with my teammate and everyone else who believes that doping should be fought. I also signed the letter where it was mentioned. But there is no speech in the letter that it is necessary to fight against Russia. It talks about the problem of doping in general. I know that the biathletes also signed it. (Natalia MARYANCHIK)
IN domestic sports a new doping scandal flares up. The World Doping Agency has identified more than 30 Russian biathletes who are suspected of using illegal drugs. What is known about this case at the moment and what is the reaction of Russian and foreign athletes and functionaries to this news - in the material of RBC
Dmitry Malyshko (Russia) on the course sprint race among men at the third stage of the Biathlon World Cup season 2016/17 in Czech Nove Mesto na Morave (Photo: Alexei Filippov/RIA Novosti)
What is known so far
- On December 15, the International Biathlon Union (IBU) received from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) a list of names of 31 Russian biathletes suspected of doping.
- The list was compiled following an investigation by the independent McLaren Commission, so we can talk about athletes who used doping in the period from 2011 to 2015.
- IBU President Anders Besseberg said there are three groups of athletes on the list: current athletes; those who have already completed their careers; and those who are not listed in the IBU database. In the latter case, we are talking about athletes who compete only in domestic competitions.
- The names of the athletes convicted of doping will not be named until a decision is made on each of them.
- The IBU announced the creation of a special working group, which included lawyers and experts in the anti-doping field. It has already held its first meeting, at which it reviewed information on existing Russian biathletes, which are mentioned in the McLaren report. The group will report the findings to the IBU and propose disciplinary action at a meeting on 22 December.
- The decision on doping cases of 31 Russian athletes may be made before the start of the World Championship in Austrian Hochfilzen, which will be held from February 8 to 19, 2017. According to some reports, this may happen before the New Year.
- The holding of the Biathlon World Championships in Tyumen in 2021 is under threat, a decision on it can be made at the IBU Congress next year.
The reaction of athletes
Currently, the Russian team is at the third stage of the World Cup in the Czech Nove Mesto, it will end on December 18. The current season, compared to the previous one, is developing for Russian team not so bad: our athletes won six medals (one gold, three silvers and two bronzes). The Norwegian team has the same result, top scores showed only the French and Germans.
Russian athletes, who took 2nd place in the men's relay at the second stage of the 2016/17 Biathlon World Cup in Pokljuka, Slovenia. From left to right: Maxim Tsvetkov, Anton Shipulin, Anton Babikov, Matvey Eliseev (Photo: Andrey Anosov/SBR/RIA Novosti)
