Biathlon: towards the end of the Evgeny Ustygov series
Last September, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announced that the joint appeal filed by Evgeny Ustyugov and Svetlana Slepstova had been rejected. This Tuesday morning, the Biathlon Integrity Unit (BIU) and the International Biathlon Union (IBU), in a joint press release, welcome“the decision rendered by the CAS in the case of the biological passport of former athlete Evgeny Ustyugov”.
“The CAS Appeals Chamber upheld the findings of the CAS Anti-Doping Division, which determined that Mr. Ustyugov committed an anti-doping rule violation based on the anomalies identified in his athlete biological passport”it is then specified. This was a separate call, and only concerning the Russian, from that of September.
So, the suspension of Evgeny Ustygov for a period of four years is confirmed. “Furthermore, all of his competitive results obtained between January 24, 2010 and his retirement at the end of the 2013/2014 season are invalidated, including any associated medals, points and prizes. This includes his results at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, where he received the gold medal in the mass start and the bronze medal in the men's relay.it is indicated.
Several medals could soon be reallocated
And an appeal by Evgeny Ustyugov to the Swiss Federal Court (TFS) is still possible, “such appeals are only permitted for narrow procedural reasons”reveals the communication.
So, Martin Fourcade, second in the mass start in 2010 behind the Russian, should soon be able to recover a sixth Olympic gold medal. In any case, with this CAS decision, it comes very close.
“The reallocation of medals can only be implemented after a final verdict from the SFT and a subsequent formal decision by the IOC Executive Board on the reallocation”finally explains the press release.
Slovak Pavol Hurajt should recover the silver medal and the Austrian Christoph Sumann the bronze one. In relay, Russia should lose bronze, going back to Sweden (Fredrik Lindstroem, Carl-Johan Bergman, Mattias Nilsson, Bjoern Ferry). Furthermore, regarding Sotchi 2014Norway will recover bronze in the relay.
