IBU provisionally suspends two biathlon athletes and investigates 29 others

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 on 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[1] on the following: 1. Taking note of the opening of Disciplinary Proceedings by the IOC[2] 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) [1], 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 filed to the Anti - Doping Hearing Panel (further referred to 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 filed to the ADHP will be made in cooperation with legal experts and WADA, who offered to assist 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 indicted 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. Nevertheless 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 About the IBU The International Biathlon Union is the international umbrella organization of all organizations representing the sport of biathlon and those who have an interest in the sport. The IBU was founded in 1993 as an independent association under the umbrella of the UIPMB alongside the UIPM (Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne). The IBU separated from the UIPMB in 1998. National Federations are the members of the IBU with their non-profit purposes represented internationally by the IBU. The IBU is a non-government and not-for-profit organization with its headquarters in Salzburg, Austria. The IBU also represents the sport of biathlon in other international organizations. [1] The First Vice President of the IBU, who is also member of the board of the Russian Biathlon Union, did not participate in the decisions. [2] Samples that were collected between 31 January 2014 and the end of the Olympic Games fall under the result management authority of the IOC.