Translated material
Day after day
Our biathletes found out the dates for returning to the ski slopes
The Anti-Doping Commission of the International Biathlon Union (IBU) has finally made its decision regarding three Russian biathletes convicted of doping. This verdict was originally promised to be announced in early May. However, under various pretexts, members of the independent commission of the IBU came to a consensus only three months later. So, Ekaterina Yuryeva, Albina Akhatova and Dmitry Yaroshenko were suspended from participation in competitions for two years. Yaroshenko's suspension will begin on December 3, 2008, Yuryeva - from December 4, Akhatova - from December 5. All three will miss two Olympics - in 2010 and 2014. It is possible that for some of this trio this will mean the end of their sports career.The lawyer for Russian biathletes, Tagir Samokaev, noted that an appeal against the decision of the IBU anti-doping commission will be filed in the near future. “We are disappointed with the decision and are now considering filing an appeal. But for this it is necessary to study the decisions that were made by the IBU commission. My position on this issue differs significantly from that of the International Union. I think that the appeal will be filed in the very near future. Theoretically, both athletes and IBU have the right to appeal this decision. Let's not guess anything for now. We will fight,” said Mr. Samokaev.
If the IBU commission and the SBR sign the so-called “additional agreement”, the case can be immediately transferred to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, without intermediate proceedings in the IBU court. However, as a source in the RBU said, the biathletes do not plan to ask the IBU to sign such a document.
Meanwhile, some time ago, the leaders of the SBR announced their intention to appeal to Lausanne justice. True, according to professional sports lawyers of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), not a single doping case considered at the Lausanne Court of Arbitration for Sports has ended positively for our athletes. Moreover, the verdict for the biathletes turned out to be not so harsh against the backdrop of the IAAF’s decision regarding Russian athletes disqualified for altering doping samples.
Let us remind you that the doping scandal that broke out in Russian biathlon concerns not one, but five who were caught doping this season. In May, the cases of three people were considered in Salzburg: Yuryeva, Akhatova and Yaroshenko. The doping tests taken from the athletes in 2008 turned out to be positive: Akhatova had one, Yuryeva had two, Yaroshenko had three. After the World Championships in South Korea, two more of our biathletes, Andrei Prokunin and Veronika Timofeeva, were caught using the same recombinant EPO.
The leaders of the SBR tried to prove that the drug found in the Russians was not EPO and not doping at all. Sports medicine specialists dealing with similar problems, who previously uttered the name “recombinant EPO” in their comments, have recently suddenly become confused about the indications and prefer to remain silent. The accused athletes, with the exception of Timofeeva, who admitted her guilt, categorically deny that they took prohibited drugs. And IBU President Anders Besseberg is confident that in this case we are talking about the systematic use of doping in the Russian team.
In Russia, the point of view of the head of the IBU is probably shared by few. The main counterargument is that almost all athletes of leading teams use doping. That, they say, the Germans are not touched, since large German companies are sponsors of the IBU. The Norwegians are not being exposed - the head of the IBU, Mr. Besseberg, is a Norwegian himself. And the Austrian shooting skiers were left alone, since the most likely candidate for the presidency of the IBU, the current vice-president of the International Union Klaus Leistner, lives in Austria. The Russian national team, which until recently was shaken by sponsorship “showdowns”, and the leaders of the RBU were more involved in the election struggle, and, they say, there was no one to protect. Probably, such an opinion has a right to life. And surely some Russian company will actually become a sponsor of the IBU or contribute an impressive amount to the development of international biathlon, after which the doping scandals in our team will completely disappear. But the point is different: the problem can be closed, but it does not mean solved.
Recently, at a meeting of the RBU, Leonid Guryev, now one of the coaches of the Russian women's team, according to our information, directly asked his colleagues what we should do with youth competitions. After all, it’s no secret that bags of syringes are taken out of hotel rooms. “Should we conduct searches or wiretap numbers?” - he asked. In general, the expression “bags of syringes” has already become a kind of cliche in relation to youth and youth domestic biathlon. The fear of being left out of the national team or not getting there at all forces young athletes to act on the principle: the end justifies the means. But the most amazing thing is that the current generation of shooting skiers knows where to get illegal drugs, who to contact and how much to pay. Often we are not even talking about any “appearances and addresses”; it is enough to more or less navigate the Internet. “During the summer training period, as a rule, doping problems do not arise. But as soon as the season begins, the situation often gets out of control,” one of the coaches of the country’s biathlon team admitted to a Vremya Novostei correspondent.
It is clear that in modern elite sports, with its prohibitive loads and busy calendar, it is impossible to do without pharmacology. It is the process of recovery of athletes in various ways, including with the help of medications, that plays a primary role. But it seems that domestic sports medicine has nothing to offer other than “recombinant” EPO or other doping. Several years ago, one of our athletics coaches told how, together with his ward, he literally followed Marion Jones at all competitions and pulled out all the vials and syringes that she furtively threw into the trash bins. Then domestic Sherlock Holmes looked for these drugs in foreign pharmacies and experimented on themselves. Let's just say, an unenviable fate. For comparison: according to our trainers, several scientific institutes work for the Norwegians, which develop approved drugs and reducing agents. Most likely, this is not fiction, it is true.
The new head coach of the country's biathlon team, Vladimir Barnashov, said that it is necessary to change the system of transition of national team athletes vertically, they say, we do not need “champions at any cost.” And given the fact that children’s trainers are not spoiled by salaries, the temptation to train a “chemical champion” is great, because for the title of student and mentor, cash bonuses are due. And then everything is very simple: an athlete “on the needle” is unlikely to give up this practice even in an adult team. Because, according to sports doctors, there is a psychological dependence on doping, and without an “incentive” the race can be lost by an athlete even before the start.