Biathlon Integrity Unit Aims to Help Restore Battered Image

(ATR) The International Biathlon Union will launch an independent integrity unit in an effort to regain trust in the winter sport following the doping cover-up scandal.

IBU president Olle Dahlin addressed media at SportAccord on Australia’s Gold Coast on Wednesday and opened up about his plans to make "transparency and good governance" part of the perception of the IBU.

Dahlin took over the presidency last September in the wake of the sudden departure of his predecessor Anders Besseberg and secretary general Nicole Resch amid claims of corruption and doping fraud linked to cases involving Russian athletes, which are still subject to police investigation.

In mid-April the IBU advertised for a new secretary general and head of finance and administration, in response to the abrupt resignation of Martin Kuchenmeister and three others staff members in February.

Dahlin said he expected the key appointees to be in place before an extraordinary conference called for October 18-20 at which major reforms and an updated constitution will be laid out for acceptance.

Increasing Trust

To say the IBU is in need of new respect and confidence in its affairs is an understatement but Dahlin revealed that much leg-work has been done and he is a man determined to take the sport forward decisively and positively.

"I am a lot happier now than when elected in September; it has been a very interesting period, with a lot of work to do," said Dahlin, who revealed much had been learned from 25 workshops conducted in recent months involving stakeholders such as athletes, sponsors, media, national federations and others.

"[The need for] good governance and transparency were the main things [to emerge as priorities] there," he told reporters.

"We had a board meeting last weekend in Munich and we took a decision to put in place an integrity unit in IBU to address anti-doping and ethics. It has to be taken to our congress [in October] to decide whether to put it into the constitution.

"The main thing here is to separate the anti-doping and doping works from the operation from the sport, I think that’s extremely important.

"It’s a matter of trust in how we do things; we need to increase trust. For the athletes it is important but it’s also important for all stakeholders around the sport too."

The Biathlon Integrity Unit, which will be managed independently of the IBU, is also designed tohandle betting related issues or any kind of result manipulation.

As a precursor, the IBU in early April announced the appointment of Global Sports Investigations (GSI) to operate its independent whistle-blowing hotline and independent ethics office. This came after an external review commission, chaired by leading English lawyer Jonathan Taylor QC, conducted an investigation into all anti-doping, compliance, ethical and disciplinary matters as well as matters arising from the ongoing investigation by WADA and various national and international criminal authorities.

Dahlin feels his sport has reached a major turning point with constructive and inclusive dialogue in recent months.

He claimed there had been no financial fallout from the scandals of last year and that television ratings had increased 15 per cent during the recent season.

An athlete has been added to the executive board, with full voting rights, to bring competing athletes into the decision-making. Dahlin also says there is now much more frequent and detailed communication with its athletes.

He said the sport’s constitution, lodged in 1993, will undergo a "total review" which will hopefully be rubber-stamped at October’s congress.

Ongoing Talks with Russia

Dahlin announced that there was ongoing communication with the Russian federation, which has had its full membership suspended since last year’s doping scandal and thus cannot compete at the Olympic Games.

Russia has set about satisfying the IBU that it can meet the 12 criteria before its membership could be reinstated.

Criteria included its future testing program of Russian biathletes, the reimbursement of costs, setting up a special doping prevention program, mandatory anti-doping education, access to the Moscow LIMS data, and full cooperation with investigations into potential past anti-doping rule violations while RUSADA must maintain compliance with the WADA Code.

IBU executives recently met with Russian Biathlon Union’s new leadership, with input from the Russian Olympic Committee who joined meeting, and Dahlin described talks as "very positive".

He said the Russians’ criteria working group had met regularly, as recently as last week, but put no deadline on when they needed to meet requirements. "How fast? That is up to the Russian Biathlon Union. I can’t speculate but I hope and think they will want to proceed very fast in this process."

Reported by Neil Cadigan at SportAccord

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