At the request of Klebo: Norway withdrew its appeal against the outcome of the World Cup marathon in Oberstdorf

"They have to decide the result of the ski race in the office, and this is wrong."

The clash between Alexander Bolshunov and Johannes Klebo at the finish line of the marathon at the World Championships in Oberstdorf continues to excite the ski community three days later.

The race took place on Sunday, but the result was not clear until the last moment, as the Norwegians filed an appeal.

However, on Wednesday evening, the three-time Olympic champion himself made an unexpected statement.

He posted an emotional post on his Instagram account, in which he called for the withdrawal of the appeal.

He explained his decision by his unwillingness to spend time and energy on what happened.

According to the skier, in the past few days he plunged into the deepest depression.

“I was born and raised cross-country skiing in Nielsbuen.

Now they have to decide the result of the ski race in the office, and this is wrong.

I must face the future.

I had good races in my best world championship, and I will make sure that I never end up in this situation again.

I just told the Norwegian Ski Association to cancel the appeal of the FIS jury.

In any case, getting a gold medal a few days after my best race of my entire career would have been completely different, ”wrote Klebo.

The Norwegian also congratulated compatriot Emil Iversen on the victory, and Bolshunov on winning the silver medal.

At the same time, he called the Russian "a brilliant skier."

“I will always believe that I have not done anything wrong - and that I have not hindered anyone.

But now it's over and I need to focus on the World Cup final this weekend, ”Klebo added.

The Norwegian national team did not interfere with the wishes of their athlete and immediately withdrew the appeal.

The team's sports director, Espen Bjerwig, said that the Scandinavians contacted the FIS after talking with Klebo.

Johannes' decision caused a positive reaction in Russia.

In particular, Yuri Borodavko, Bolshunov's coach, called the Norwegian's act "a strong move."

“Emotions always prevail at first.

Most likely, when the hotheads cooled down, everyone looked in a more objective and calm atmosphere and saw that there was a violation, that there was no point in breaking spears and getting negative answers, that it was better to admit that there was.

This is a strong enough move and worthy of respect.

It's nice that this is so, "- quotes the words of the expert" Championship ".

And the three-time Olympic champion Anfisa Reztsova admitted that after what happened she respected Klebo even more.

“I think Klebo did the right thing - it's great!

Clever girl!

I do not blame Johannes for doing this.

The fact that he was deprived of the medal is, in my opinion, wrong.

He correctly said that he did not want to go to meetings, but would concentrate on the track.

I respect him more.

This is just a clever girl, "Sport-Express quotes Reztsova.

"We do not see anything reprehensible in the actions of Johannes"

The Norwegians announced the decision to challenge the outcome of the marathon on Tuesday.

In the camp, the teams were unhappy with the verdict of the international federation to take away the gold medal from the three-time Olympic champion.

Bjerwig called the whole incident “an accident. 

“We fundamentally disagree with the disqualification, since we do not see anything reprehensible in the actions of Johannes.

Two athletes run in parallel, this happens in mass starts ”, - quotes the manager of NRK.

At the same time, Bjerwig stressed that Norway is not going to demand the imposition of sanctions against Bolshunov, but only intend to ensure that the skiers are left in their places.

Coach Alexander Borodavko immediately reacted to the offer of the rivals, who, in hot pursuit, said that FIS Race Director Pierre Miniere "serves the interests of the Norwegian team."

He also suggested that the leadership of the international federation resign if the Norwegians' appeal is satisfied there.

The specialist did not stop there and made another loud statement.

According to him, the Norwegian national team "in one hundred percent" uses therapeutic exceptions.

The coach believes that such a rapid progress of the same Klebo would have been simply impossible without this.  

“I work so much and I understand that this is very difficult.

Therefore, I have questions and doubts.

Moreover, information about his therapeutic exceptions was leaked to the media, ”- quotes Wartko“ Championship ”.

In FIS, the words of the Russian coach were left without comment.

Miniere, mentioned earlier, then only emphasized that the consideration of the Norwegians' appeal continued.

But the technical delegate of the federation, Estonian Robert Peets, spoke on this topic.

In his opinion, the collision of Klebo and Bolshunov is difficult to interpret unequivocally, although Alexander “had the right to choose a trajectory” at the finish line, and Johannes should “not create obstacles for him”.

In turn, Bolshunov has not yet commented on the filing of the appeal by the Norwegians and Klebo's request to withdraw it.

On his Instagram, he only thanked the fans for their support.  

“Friends, thank you all for your support and congratulations!

There are a lot of you!

Together we are strong, ”the athlete wrote.

"Klebo should have slowed down"

Meanwhile, experts assess the incident differently.

For example, Olympic champion Alexander Legkov believes that the Norwegians' chances of a successful outcome of the case were quite high, since the Scandinavians have a serious status in skiing.

“But from the point of view of logic and consistency, it should not be approved, because in Finland the same episode happened when Bolshunov was disqualified ... And, as far as I understand and see, Sasha behaved at the finish line just because he already had there was this story.

It's good that ours were able to prove that there was a violation, gave examples, "- quotes Legkov's words" Championship ".

But the Olympic champion found it difficult to answer the question of how the fight at the finish line would have developed if it had not been for the collision.

However, in his opinion, the Russian approached the last meters of the distance in good condition.

“In general, it is not clear what would have happened in the alignment, if not for this situation.

It is not clear how Klebo's muscles would have behaved at the finish, although he seemed relatively fresh ... If this contact had not happened, the finish would have been unpredictable at all, because there were a lot of influencing factors, ”added Legkov.

Dmitry Guberniev, who commented on the race with him, admitted that he was sorry for Klebo, who deserved the gold medal.

At the same time, the journalist believes that Johannes nevertheless violated the rules.

He also released a reproach against the president of the Russian Ski Racing Federation, Elena Vyalbe, who left the stadium in advance on the day of the marathon.

“Along the way, I want to say that it was obvious to me that Vyalbe had left the stadium completely in vain for some unknown reason.

Her authority was not enough when making a decision, but other generals fought for her.

It’s a pity that it happened, ”Guberniev said.

The commentator also spoke on the topic of therapeutic exceptions, which Wartko raised.

In the very fact of their existence, he did not see anything criminal, but urged to reveal the names of athletes who were forced to take certain drugs.

“Anything that is not prohibited is permitted.

Of course, ideally, all therapeutic exceptions should be made public.

Justyna Kowalczyk and Martin Fourcade spoke about this at one time.

Now what is the point of waving your fists after a fight and chatting all sorts of nonsense?

Why did Vyalbe and Borodavko keep silent during the World Cup, but now they suddenly started talking?

It's not beautiful.

We need to restore our position in the FIS and fight for our rights.

It is necessary that the president of the federation does not leave the battlefield at the most important moment, ”added Guberniev.

Even in Norway, the episode with the participation of Bolshunov and Klebo was ambiguous.

So, the Olympic champion Eystein Pettersen explained that in this situation three rules were violated at once.

“The one in front can choose the track, and the one in the back is responsible for avoiding a collision.

In this case, the one in front is not allowed to block the opponent.

In my opinion, all these rules were violated, ”Dagbladet quotes Pettersen.

In turn, eight-time Olympic champion Marit Bjorgen called the case "difficult."

According to her, Bolshunov greatly went beyond the limits of his track, but he had the right to do so, since he was walking in front.

The Olympic champion from Italy Fulvio Valbuza also believes that in this case it was Klebo who broke the rules, since it was he who was responsible for a possible collision with Bolshunov when overtaking.

At the same time, Alexander also acted not quite correctly, the Italian believes.

“Do we want to convey such a message that the one who rides in front can do anything?

What can I say?

In my opinion, Klebo is the world champion in the 50 km race.

But the rules justify his disqualification, ”OA Sport quotes Walbuza.

Finn Jari Isometsya, a three-time Olympic medalist, recalled that Bolshunov got into several conflict situations at the finish line during his career, while Klebo did not have them.

“There are situations when you want to win so badly that you forget about tactics.

I'm not saying Alexander is a dirty skier.

But he usually gets involved in such incidents.

With Klebo, we can remember not many such cases.

Of course, in favor of Bolshunov is the fact that he ends up in them at all.

When you finish in 40th place, no one will call you a dirty skier, ”Isomasets quotes MTV Uutiset.

Finally, the former coach of the German national cross-country skiing team Johan Bele believes that Bolshunov's broken stick was the decisive factor for Klebo's disqualification. 

“Alexander went far to the right at the finish spurt and is partially to blame for what happened.

Klebo should have slowed down.

But naturally, he did not do this and took the lead, "- quotes a specialist Eurosport.de.