“It is too early to reach a final verdict”: IBU refused to consider restoring SBR status

“It makes no sense to clarify which criteria are not met”

On October 8, the IBU finally announced that the topic of restoring the status of the RRF at an extraordinary congress in Munich will not be raised.

“Representatives of the IBU, who are part of the working group on the restoration of the Russian Biathlon Union, informed the IBU Executive Committee of their last meeting with the RBU and RUSADA in Moscow. The Executive Committee supported its decision taken at a previous meeting that it was too early to adopt a final verdict on the restoration of the RRF during an extraordinary congress, ”the IBU press service said.

In response, the head of the RBU Vladimir Drachev urged the fans to do without unnecessary emotions, but did not talk in detail about the reasons for the refusal.

“The letter concisely and clearly states that we continue to work, IBU looks forward to further fruitful joint activities of the RRF and IBU. But at the moment, they see that it is too early to restore the RRF in rights, not all criteria are fully met. There are specifics, but now it makes no sense to clarify which criteria are not met. It's just that everything is not ready. Although they themselves note that fruitful work is underway, and on some issues even ahead of schedule, ”said the functionary.

However, he did not confirm the information that the IBU failure was due to inconsistencies in the database of the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory, which were submitted to WADA.

“To link the decision of the executive committee only with this I would not. We do not attend meetings of the executive committee and cannot understand the opinion of each of its members, but receive only written information. I would not want to think that this is due to any additional information from WADA. We do not need to argue with the IBU, but work positively on recovery. Fulfilling the criteria that we must fulfill. We work comprehensively, approaching not only the nearest IBU congress, but in general the 2022 Olympic Games, ”added Drachev.

“This is connected with the history of the Moscow Laboratory and WADA”

But in RUSADA it was suggested that the failure of the IBU is precisely connected with the database of the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory. This was stated by Deputy General Director of the organization Margarita Pakhnotskaya.

“I think this is connected with the history of the Moscow Laboratory and WADA, because when our working group met, a meeting on this issue was held in Tokyo. And there was already information from there. Well, since there are certain common points on the road map, then everything is interconnected. This does not mean denial, just the question with the SBR is paused, ”Pakhnotskaya told R-Sport.

Four-time Olympic champion and former head of the RBU Alexander Tikhonov believes that the federation will not be restored in rights even next year.

“I believe that this is fair and there can be no questions. I met with the president and first vice-president of IBU in Minsk, discussed issues. This team of Drachev, Nuzhdov and Golikov will never decide anything, ”quotes Tikhonov Sport24.

Heavy recovery process

RRF was limited in December 2017. The Federation has lost the right to nominate candidates for IBU governing bodies. Also, Russia was forbidden to hold international biathlon tournaments. At the same time, domestic biathletes continued their performance at the IBU Cup, World Cup and other major competitions. In addition, they retained the opportunity to go to the start under the flag of their country.

In order to regain its own status, the RRF required 12 points of the roadmap. And the International Federation every time noted progress in this matter. So, in September, IBU Director Olle Dalin emphasized that the Russian side had little to do.

“The working group met three times, and last weekend they reported to the IBU Executive Committee that Russia had made good progress on meeting the 12 criteria for recovery, but they had not yet been fully met. Just a couple of criteria remain unclosed. Therefore, right now it’s too early to talk about the return of the RRF, ”a Sport Express functionary quotes.

In particular, the issue of paying IBU compensation from the SBR was not finally resolved. At the same time, in early September, the Executive Director of the Union Sergey Golikov emphasized that it remained to pay another € 150 thousand out of 700 thousand.