The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejected the appeal of Russian Evgeny Ustyugov annulling all his results between 2010 and 2014, including his gold medal won in mass start at the Vancouver Olympics, which went to Frenchman Martin Fourcade.
A sixth Olympic gold medal for Martin Fourcade… four years after the end of his career. The French biathlete regained victory in the mass start during the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games, at the end of which he took second place behind the Russian Evgeny Ustyugov. The latter has just been downgraded from all his results between 2010 and 2014 after the rejection of his appeal before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) which confirmed “anomalies identified in his biological passport (ABP)”.
Ustyugov can still appeal to the Swiss federal court
“Following this conclusion, Mr. Ustyugov was sanctioned with a period of ineligibility of four years,” rejoices the biathlon integrity unit. “Furthermore, all competition results obtained by Mr. Ustyugov between January 24, 2010 and his retirement at the end of the 2013/2014 season are invalidated, including associated medals, points and prizes. This includes results obtained at Mr. Ustyugov can appeal this decision at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, where he won the gold medal in the mass start and the bronze medal in the men's relay. decision before the Swiss Federal Court (TSF). However, such appeals are only permitted on narrow procedural grounds.”
This CAS decision confirms a sanction taken in 2020 disqualifying him from all competitions in which he participated between January 24, 2010 and the end of his career, in 2014, for anomalies on his biological passport. The rejection of his appeal before the CAS unofficially confirms Martin Fourcade's new gold, pending the exhaustion of appeals.
On September 10, the CAS rejected another appeal from the Russian, disqualifying him from all races between 2013 and 2014, thus withdrawing a gold medal from Russia in the men's relay, for a positive sample for a steroid (Oxandrolone). . Ustyugov decided to file a new appeal against the Swiss federal court on this matter.
“Mr Ustyugov appealed another recent and separate CAS decision to the TSF,” notes Biathlon Integrity. “This CAS decision rejected a joint appeal filed by Mr. Ustyugov and another former athlete, Ms. Svetlana Sleptsova, who challenged the first instance verdicts issued by the IBU Anti-Doping Hearing Panel in February 2020, which were based on findings from the Moscow Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) database. This decision resulted in the loss of all medals, points and awards associated with Mr. Ustyugov from August 27, 2013 until the end of the 2013/2014 season, including the results of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, where he won a gold medal in the relay The reallocation of medals from this competition. can only be implemented after a final verdict from the SFT and a subsequent formal decision by the IOC Executive Board on the reallocation.”
