The McLaren report could lead to sanctions against Russian biathlon. Russian biathlon goes into darkness Names of biathletes suspected of doping

“We know who doped. He has been suspended pending clarification,” the IBU office said and lit the fuse. It should explode very soon, and this will happen on the eve of the World Championships in Norway. This is not the first time that 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 is already more than 10 years old. While waiting for the name of the criminal to be announced, let us recall similar cases.

2003. “Akhatova on the Trainspot”

The first known doping scandal broke out in the Russian national team after the World Cup in Antholz, shortly before the World Championships in Khanty-Mansiysk. Then one of the contenders for victory in the overall standings Albina Akhatova tested positive for niketamide. One of the largest newspapers in the country published an article entitled “Akhatova on the Trainspot.” 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, it was fined, but the athlete was acquitted and won two gold medals in Khanty-Mansiysk.

2008. “Uncaught” Varis

The first doping disqualification forced the Finnish skier Kaisu Waris go to biathlon. At first she wasn’t good at shooting, but in January 2008 she unexpectedly won the sprint, after which she tested positive for erythropoietin. The International Biathlon Union initially disqualified the athlete for life,

but then Varis' lawyers argued that she was not present at the autopsy of sample B, and therefore it could not be considered positive. Thus, the Finn was formally acquitted, but her own federation did not want to allow the repeat offender and her boyfriend and doctor Kari-Pekka Curé to come within shooting distance of the national team.

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 providing for sampling on out-of-competition days. In fact, a blow was dealt to those who like to inject 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 Championships in Pyeongchang. Long trials led to nothing, and all three received two years of disqualification. Soon, the SBR, as part of a clean-up operation by RusADA, identified two more violators in the domestic arena - Andrei Prokunin and Veronika Timofeeva.

2014. Old rake

On the eve of preparations for the Olympic Games in Sochi, the Russian Biathlon Union stepped on an old rake. Recent reservists Irina Starykh and Ekaterina Yuryeva sharply improved at the start of the season and applied for inclusion in the national team, and already in January it became known about their positive tests, also associated with EPO. Starykh received a three-year disqualification, and Yuryeva received eight years for a repeat incident, which effectively marked the end of her career. Later, during repeated analysis, another violator was caught - Alexander Loginov, also received three years. In addition to the Russians, on the eve of the Olympics, 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, use 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, Taschler apparently asked for his son-in-law, an Austrian skier Johannes Dur, who was caught on the eve of the Games in Sochi. As a result, Taschler Jr. was suspended from competition, and his father from working 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 range of violators is limited to the number of athletes who suddenly stopped competing and did not travel to North America. It is unlikely that any of the superstars will be among them, since the Norwegians are calmly preparing for the home World Cup and are giving out interviews, Yakov 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 little time before sample B is opened, and therefore the name of the offender will soon become known and will explain a lot.

The document contains the names of approximately 40 athletes, NeveItalia reports. The results of their doping tests are attached. A separate column indicates which substance was detected in the analysis of a particular athlete.

ON THIS TOPIC

It is noteworthy that the document allegedly contains a comment by the former head of the Moscow anti-doping laboratory, Grigory Rodchenkov, who is accused of drugging athletes. For example, the banned drug trimetazidine was found in the urine of two-time European Championships medalist Timofey Lapshin, and Rodchenkov’s note is next to it - “reason for investigation.” Note that one of the authors of the table called the athlete an “untouchable teapot.”

At the same time, Rodchenkov reacted much more emotionally to the discovery of such prohibited substances as methenolone, oxandrolone and trenbolone in the tests of Russian master of sports Ekaterina Glazyrina. “We need to hide it immediately,” the ex-head of the laboratory allegedly wrote, accompanying his words with obscene language. In “additional information,” the unknown person stated that “this is somehow too much and such samples should not be sent to the laboratory.”

Let us note that the document contains not only the names of biathletes suspected of doping. For example, the bronze medalist of the 2010 Olympic Games Anton Shipulin is also on the list, but there are no notes on the fact of taking prohibited substances next to his name.

Let us remind you that the national teams of Norway, Great Britain and the Czech Republic are going to boycott the World Cup stage in Tyumen due to the use of prohibited drugs by Russian biathletes. They insist on the disqualification of these athletes and the “cleaning up” of doping procedures.

In anticipation of the IBU's decision regarding the Russian team, I tried to bring up all the information about Biathlon from the McLaren bowels.

Brief summary:

It can be said with absolute certainty that the report contains Zaitseva, Vilukhina, Romanova- these are biathletes who had scratches on their anti-doping test tubes and abnormal salt levels. For more details, see the previous post. Also already calculated Glazyrina- (see post from a week ago on the main page).
With a high degree of confidence, there are, oddly enough, Shipulin, Garanichev, Malyshko, Ustyugov, Loginov And Shumilova, Volkov. I calculated them using documents 0883-0885, which contain sample numbers and names of personal trainers - respectively, Putrov, Kugaevsky, Kucherov, Lunev, Khaliullina And Russians. For Volkova- Altukhov. Further, their sample numbers - (and in the case of Shipulin - 6, Garanichev - 5, Malyshko 4, etc.) were also found in document 1140, where they looked for abnormal salt levels - this means that these are high-ranking athletes.
From others there Lapshin, A0461. (the so-called untouchable teapot). from Sochi with high probability missing Podchufarova. And most of the young athletes who were not considered for the 2014 Olympics.
Several retired ( Zaitseva, Vilukhina, Ustyugov). Some more could not be identified. Total There are 35 biathletes in the report, 4 of them are disqualified (Starykh, Pekhterev, Baranunkin, Dubasov). So there are actually 31 left.

All information in the file is here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Wprs0Uz_6eiJgDF6xgs__YK--Hjdkh0-PTskP6uoTVc/ There are also links to the competitions where samples were taken (where possible), and completely complete information from Rodchenkov’s correspondence and other documents from McLaren. (Bold - World Cup biathletes, italics - those who have completed their careers, underlined - participants in the 2014 Olympic Games)

1. A0023 - Ivan Alekhine

2. A0136 - Ivan Tcherezov

3. A0142 - Alexander Chernyshov

4. A0157 - Alexander Dedyukhin

5. A0179 - Dubova/Dmirtieva/Dudina/Dyuzheva/Egorova

6. A0201 - Anastasia Evsyunina

7. A0232 - Evgeniy Garanichev

8. A0241 - Ekaterina Glazyrina

9. A0282 - Kristina Ilchenko (already Belarus)

10. A0321 - Ulyana Kaisheva

11. A0461 - Timofey Lapshin

12. A0491 - Alexander Loginov

13. A0508 - Andrey Makoveev

14. A0521 - Dmitry Malyshko

15. A0548 - Svetlana Mironova

16. A0567 - Ekaterina Muraleeva

17. A0576 - Alexander Nazarov

18. A0579 - Galina Nechkasova

19. A0598 - Anna Nikulina (??)

20. A0639 - Evgenia Pavlova

21. A0687 - Alexander Povarnitsyn

22. A0714 - Yana Romanova

23. A0751 Semenova/Sboeva/Sandulyak

24. A0795 - Anton Shipulin

25. A0804 - Yuri Shopin

26. A0808 - Ekaterina Shumilova

27. A0930 - Evgeny Ustyugov

28. A0944 - Olga Vilukhina

29. A0950 - Alexey Volkov

30. A0983 - Olga Zaitseva

31. A1031 - Eduard Latypov (former coach - Mischingin)

MOSCOW, December 15 - R-Sport, Elena Dyachkova.(IBU) is ready to provisionally suspend Russian athletes suspected of violating anti-doping rules, whose names were provided to the organization by (WADA). In total, there are 31 Russian biathletes on the list, but some of them have already been disqualified or have completed their careers.

The second part of the report of the independent WADA commission by Richard McLaren was published on December 9, which, among other things, stated that more than a thousand Russian athletes were involved in or benefited from manipulation of doping tests at the Olympic Games in Sochi. Less than a week has passed since, based on an investigation by a Canadian lawyer, Russia, by decision of the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF), lost the right to host the 2017 World Championships, and on Thursday there were reports in the Norwegian press that the IBU had received from WADA a list of those whom McLaren considered suspected of violating anti-doping rules.

"Some of these 31 athletes have already been disqualified or have retired, but there are people who are currently participating in international competitions. We will make recommendations within a week, the IBU committee can weed out those athletes who should be provisionally disqualified," the IBU head said Anders Besseberg. Later, in an interview with the German television channel ARD, he also noted that some of the athletes included in this number had never competed in international tournaments, taking part only in competitions in Russia.

Experts will draw conclusions in a week

The IBU Special Committee, which included representatives from five countries, already held its first meeting on the Russian list on Thursday. The committee included lawyers and anti-doping experts, but their names were not disclosed. “We expect that in a week, on Thursday, when the IBU executive committee meets, the group will already make its first recommendations,” Besseberg said. According to VG.no, Russian biathletes mentioned in the list may be suspended from competitions before the start of the fourth stage of the World Cup, which will take place in early January in Oberhof, Germany.

On Thursday evening, the IBU released an official statement regarding the latest developments. "The IBU is truly shocked and deeply saddened by the findings of the McLaren report. The IBU has always emphasized that its top priorities include clean sport, the fight against doping and the protection of clean athletes," the statement said.

The decision to hold the 2021 Biathlon World Championships in Tyumen may be made at the IBU Congress next year. “There is nothing urgent about this issue (regarding the 2021 World Cup). This issue can be considered at the IBU congress next year,” Besseberg said. According to him, there is no need to rush into transferring the Tyumen stage of the World Cup, scheduled for March 9-12, 2017, from Russia. “No one is in a hurry to make such decisions. Technically, it is not a problem to postpone the World Cup as soon as possible. We can do this within seven days,” said the IBU head.

SBR is ready to respond

The President of the Russian Biathlon Union (SBR) told the R-Sport agency that if the IBU informs the Russian side of its claims.

"Besseberg's statement said that they (IBU) received this information from McLaren's report. We are talking about the period from 2011 to 2014 inclusive. What can we comment on? They will send us to the federation if they have formal charges against someone , we will consider it personally. The RBU does not have these names. The IBU, as the official recipient of information from WADA, does its job step by step,” says Kravtsov.

He also said that he sees no threat to moving the World Cup from Russia. “There is no need to make any announcements here, that nothing threatens us, for example. We are working together with the IBU. Today, on a formal basis, what can the IBU present using the McLaren report? Or what did the authors of this report present to the IBU itself? What was carried out some kind of manipulation with samples. In any case, the athletes themselves did not participate in this, they did not stand and pour from one test tube to another, and the SBR did not participate in such manipulation, if it took place,” the head of the SBR emphasized.

The two-time Olympic champion, member of the RBU council, believes that Russian athletes should expect other unpleasant consequences of the McLaren report. “Now they will open the samples, and something else will happen. Moreover, this is the attitude towards Russia, now they will look for any reason, but there was probably something there. I think they will find something. And here we need to talk not only about biathletes. Unfortunately, there is no smoke without fire. Now you just have to wait, but you can’t delude yourself that everything is fine. You have to wait for the catch, but there will probably be one,” Alyabyev believes.

“I don’t think that any measures can come into force right today. They could put a dent in the World Cup or the Olympics (2018). They will squeeze everything out of their hands. Don’t forget that sport is part of politics,” he emphasized.

Will the IBU follow the path of the IBSF?

Two-time Olympic champion Dmitry Vasiliev believes that Besseberg will not allow madness towards Russia. "The IBU will follow common sense, because there are reasonable people there. For example, who is not a supporter of radical measures. I hope that he will not allow the madness that has now happened in bobsleigh and skeleton. I think the IBU will not be so radical on unproven arguments react,” Vasiliev told R-Sport.

And the former president of the RBU, four-time Olympic champion Alexander Tikhonov believes that the current events were caused by a complete lack of control over the situation in biathlon on the part of the former leadership of the RBU and President Mikhail Prokhorov, as well as the Ministry of Sports. "We have already stopped being surprised by anything. I think these are probably responses from the previous team, most likely. I always had complete information and tried to convey it to the leadership of the federation, the ex-head of the RBU (Mikhail) Prokhorov, then, however, there wasn’t. And it was useless,” Tikhonov said.

“I agree that there is a political component, but a complete lack of control, sheer chatter and verbiage of the former Minister of Sports and his team led to such results,” the Olympic champion added.

Of the 31 names of our athletes. "The Great Whistleblower" Richard McLaren accuses, and legendary biathlete Ole Einar Bjoerndalen defends. How could another collision end?

Anton Shipulin is not on McLaren's new list. And so everyone is mixed up on the list: those who are already serving or have served their sentences, those who have already finished their careers, and the names of some are completely unfamiliar.

Yesterday the third stage of the Biathlon World Cup started in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic. The men's sprint took place, in which Anton Shipulin took second place. He lost to Martin Fourcade by just one and a half seconds.

The sprint took place against the backdrop of another doping scandal. A few hours before the start, the President of the International Biathlon Union, Andres Besseberg, said that they had received from WADA a list of 31 Russian biathletes who would be accused of violating anti-doping rules.

“I think that there is no sports component there anymore, there is no longer any,” notes St. Petersburg athlete, two-time Olympic champion Dmitry Vasiliev. “It’s all politics. What to do? We just live in such conditions today. We shouldn’t "In no case should we complain about this. We just need to professionally respond to the attacks that the Russian Federation is now subjected to."

There are 31 biathletes on the list, and we are talking about their possible use of doping for the period from 2011 to 2015.

An important point: among the biathletes from the notorious list, many have already been disqualified, and many have already completed their careers. Some biathletes competed only in domestic Russian competitions, whose names are not even known to the general public.

And only a part are active biathletes who compete at the World Cup stages.

"Only at the domestic level, at the stages of the Russian Cup, at the Russian championships, about 15 athletes have been disqualified in recent years. Can you imagine the scale? Disqualified by RUSADA - our anti-doping service. Several more athletes were disqualified at international competitions. There was a case with Latypov, who found meldonium, but was acquitted because he had taken it last year. Accordingly, all these cases are reflected in McLaren's report. And it turns out such a large list - 31 people. Some of these athletes are unknown to the wider world, some have already completed their careers. But, according to the President of the International Federation Besseberg, there are also those who are active athletes,” explains the sports expert.

If there is anything that can reassure Russian biathlon fans, it is the absence of Anton Shipulin from the “thirty-one” list. The leader of our team does not appear there, but Shipulin did not remain aloof from the scandal on December 15. At the press conference after the sprint, the question about the list was one of the first.

“Everything in sports has been mixed up lately. It’s very disappointing. I always thought that sports are above all this. But, in any case, I’m not one hundred percent worried about myself. I have nothing to worry about. We’ll look at what happens next ", emphasized 2014 Olympic biathlon champion Anton Shipulin.

Another important point: this is a calendar. In March 2017, the World Cup is scheduled to take place in Tyumen, and the World Championship is planned there for 2021. Against the backdrop of the recent transfer of the Bobsleigh World Championships from Russia and against the backdrop of all the seriousness of world sports officials, Tyumen is at risk. Another thing is that IBU President Andres Besseberg is considered in the biathlon world to be a trustworthy and wise man.

“I wouldn’t want to deprive the Russian people, who love biathlon so much, who root so much for everyone, not just Russian athletes, of this magnificent sports festival. Therefore, I hope that justice will again prevail and everything will be fair. If they do If there are any accusations, then there must be good evidence,” Anton Shipulin emphasized.

This whole story is the consequences of the second part of Richard McLaren’s report, which the Canadian lawyer presented on December 9.

The IBU has already created a special commission. Next Thursday, December 22, a meeting will be held, after which possible sanctions or punishments will be announced. This is another day from which nothing good is now expected in sports Russia.

“It’s difficult to say anything now. Only after this we can make a decision whether to suspend these athletes or not,” explained Anders Besseberg.

What sanctions will there be? Until next Thursday, one can only assume a huge number of punishment options: international biathlon competitions in our country may be taken away - here not only the World Cup stage, but also, for example, the Junior World Championships. Individual athletes or the entire team may be suspended for the entire season. The worst forecasts even talk about preventing Russian biathletes from participating in the Olympics in Korea.

Many biathletes already expressed their position on the new scandal yesterday. The most radical of all was the leader of the world biathlon of many recent years. He said that he was ready to initiate a boycott and encourage many colleagues to join him if there were no sanctions or disqualifications. And Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, on the contrary, has so far stood up for the Russians. For the legendary Norwegian. Until he sees evidence to the contrary.