Translated material
Tikhonov was given a new term
The head of the Biathlon Union was re-elected for another four years
The current president of the Russian Biathlon Union, multiple Olympic champion Alexander Tikhonov was re-elected yesterday to the post of head of the RBU. At the reporting and election conference, held at 201 km of the Simferopol highway in the Tula region in the Grumant park-hotel, 50 out of 74 delegates, representing 46 regions and regions of Russia, voted for Tikhonov.In total, five candidates applied for the post of president of the RBU: in addition to the current president, the head of the Moscow Biathlon Federation Vladimir Malin, the first vice-president of the RBU Dmitry Aleksashin, and the head coach of CSKA in biathlon and cross-country skiing Alexey Shadrin. And also two-time Olympic champion Dmitry Vasiliev, who, after the RBU council held on Sunday, was excluded from the list of candidates for the presidency, but then restored to this status at the conference.
True, just before the voting, Dmitry Vasiliev withdrew his candidacy, since he considered “creating a new family in such an atmosphere” a thankless task. Vasiliev did not voice the name of the person he would like to support instead of himself. He only said that the delegates should vote for the future of domestic biathlon. By the way, two other candidates then followed his example - Dmitry Aleksashin recused himself, calling on those gathered to cast their votes for Tikhonov, and Alexey Shadrin advised supporting Vladimir Malin. Thus, as expected, the main struggle was between two candidates - Tikhonov and Malin. 23 delegates voted for the latter.
According to Vladimir Malin, the most offensive result for him was that he lost in an unfair fight, since there was no secret vote. As Mr. Malin told reporters after the elections, they simply did not want to listen to him. “For the money that Mechel invested in Russian biathlon with my participation, they could have given me more than seven minutes, and not like other speakers,” he noted. In his opinion, the fact that almost the entire leadership of the Russian Olympic Committee came to the elections put pressure on the conference participants. Meanwhile, Malin came up with a serious financial program, promising to increase the annual budget of the RRF to 3 million dollars, of which he planned to spend one half for the needs of the national team, and the other to send as targeted assistance to the regions.
Commenting on the election results, the head of the ROC, Leonid Tyagachev, said that the beginning of the conference made a depressing impression on him. “I got the impression that everyone gathered was scattered, some into the forest, some for firewood. It’s as if one came from Chechnya, the second from France, and the third from Austria, and they all speak different languages, having different ideas about life. Only at the end of the day did it finally dawn on those gathered that it is impossible to achieve results in biathlon without a single team,” said the head of the ROC. At the same time, it followed from Tyagachev’s words that it would be politically incorrect if Alexander Tikhonov, who not so long ago took the post of vice-president of the International Biathlon Union, was not supported by the sports leadership within the country.
The same idea was emphasized by the honorary president of the ROC, Vitaly Smirnov. He recalled that the evaluation commission of the International Olympic Committee is expected to arrive in Sochi soon, and Mr. Tikhonov, who is a member of the leadership of the International Biathlon Union, plays an important role in this matter. By the way, as Tyagachev and Smirnov stated, an agreement was reached that in April Alexander Tikhonov would have to report on the work done. “Alexander Ivanovich promised that if he fails to sort out all the problems during this time, he will resign from office,” assured Vitaly Smirnov.
Alexander Tikhonov himself, summing up the election results, said that the voting results are convincing and now he will work with redoubled energy. And when asked if he was afraid of a new wave of scandals from athletes, he noted that he was no longer afraid of anything in his life. According to him, what is happening now in domestic biathlon can be the envy of any country. From 2007 to 2010, Russia will host the World Cup finals, and in 2011 the world championship. In addition, Tikhonov, who is responsible for summer biathlon at the EBU, plans to ensure that the headquarters for this sport is located in Russia. He also hopes that our country will be able to host the Asian Summer Biathlon Games in the near future.
Current athletes were also present at the conference. In particular, Sergei Rozhkov. True, he left the conference room long before the end of the conference, declaring that he had voiced his position to the delegates. Rozhkov questioned the selection of delegates, since among those present there were those who did not have the right to vote. He also said that if the athletes’ agreements with the RBU are not signed, then the members of the national team will continue to perform with the names of the sponsors taped over, solely for the benefit of the Motherland.
True, the head of the ROC spoke unequivocally about this position of the athletes. “Believe me, as a coach, if athletes are involved in such an election fight, they will not have results. Everyone should mind their own business,” concluded Tyagachev.