#ICYMI: Biathlon Resignations; Sarajevo Hosting; Russia Suspension Lifted

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IBU Hit with Resignations

The acting secretary general of the International Biathlon Union tendered his resignation last week, amid reports of discontent at the federation.

The IBU confirmed that "acting secretary general Martin Kuchenmeister tendered his resignation last Thursday which was accepted by the IBU Executive Committee". The spokesperson confirmed three other individuals resigned for "personal reasons".

"Out of respect for the personal affairs of our staff we will not comment on the resignation of Mr Kuchenmeister," Christian Winkler, IBU spokesperson said in an email to Around the Rings.

"We can confirm that the plan for reallocation of staff duties is already well under way. Furthermore, the International Biathlon Union has opened a search to fill this position with immediate effect. Therefore the departure will have no major impact on the IBU in the short or longer term."

A report from Norwegian broadcaster NRK named the individuals as Marie-Luise Kreilinger, Kuchenmeister’s assistant, and Christine Schurz and Ingrid Lackner from the accounting department. ATR understands this leaves the IBU at 14 full-time staff members, and that the other departures were from lower level staff.

Kuchenmeister told NRK that he resigned because of internal tensions within the federation, and a lack of willingness to hire him full-time as secretary general. Kuchenmeister took over as acting secretary general after Nicole Resch, the previous secretary general, was implicated in the ongoing corruption scandal at the IBU.

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Sarajevo Returns to Organize a Mega Event

There are less than four days until the beginning of the biggest sports event in Bosnia and Herzegovina since the 1984 Winter Olympic Games.

The European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) in Sarajevo is welcoming 46 Olympic Committees, with more than 1,600 athletes from 14 to 18 years, competing in alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, short track, skating speed, snowboarding and curling.

The EYOF will be from February 9 to 16.

Organizing Committee sources said that among the guests will be presidents and general secretaries of all European national Olympic committees, the entire Executive Board of European Olympic Committees, led by President Janez Kocijancic, as well as representatives of the International Olympic Committee.

The Flame of Peace is on its journey after being lit on January 31 with an arrival on February 10 at Olympic Stadium "Asim Ferhatović Hase", the same venue for the opening ceremony of the 1984 Winter Games.

Mayor of Sarajevo Abdulah Skaka took the torch at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, in a ceremony organized by the EOC which included Nenad Vukovic, the mayor of East Sarajevo.

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IPC Lifts Ban on Russia

The International Paralympic Committee has laid out "strict conditions" in lifting its ban on Russian Paralympians.

The IPC announced Friday that it would reinstate the Russian Paralympic Committee by March 15. The ban was introduced in August 2016 in the wake of the McLaren Report detailing the country’s state-sponsored doping scheme.

The Paralympic governing body said today that 69 of 70 reinstatement criteria outlined by the IPC in November 2016 had now been met.

The IPC Taskforce said the one criterion not achieved was provision of "an official response adequately addressing the findings made by Professor McLaren".

President Andrew Parsons said that after the 29-month ban, the IPC’s governing board agreed that keeping the RPC suspended was "no longer necessary and proportionate to the situation we now face in Russia".

He said the RPC had implemented 69 measures "which provide the IPC with confidence that it is now a very different organisation to the one that it was prior to Rio 2016".

"Russian Para athletes are amongst, and will continue to be, the most tested athletes in the Paralympic Movement. Under the supervision of WADA, RUSADA has effectively been rebuilt from the ground up, is back testing and is conditionally reinstated by the global body responsible for it," he said.

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