(ATR) Anders Besseberg has stepped down amid the Austrian investigation into a doping cover-up, and the IBU’s secretary general is now suspended.
Besseberg, president of the federation since 1993, informed the IBU Executive Board late Wednesday that he was relinquishing the post. Around the Rings is told board members met by teleconference to discuss the escalating scandal that has engulfed Besseberg and his No.2 Nicole Resch.
ATR tried to contact Besseberg but he was unavailable for comment. He is now expected to be forced to quit his position as a WADA board member. The IOC is likely to drop Resch from her role on the IOC’s Beijing 2022 coordination commission.
Resch yesterday requested "a leave of absence" amid the investigation. Today, she was "provisionally suspended" by biathlon’s ruling body.
Two days after raiding the IBU’s headquarters in Salzburg after a WADA tip-off, Austrian prosecutors said today they are investigating Besseberg and Resch’s alleged involvement in bribery and criminal wrongdoing linked to covering up doping cases involving Russian athletes. They said it spans a period from 2012 to 2017.
The bribes amounted to $300,000, prosecutors said.
A report by Norwegian newspaper VG alleged that Besseberg has helped to hide 65 Russian doping cases since 2011. It said 17 of the 22 Russians who participated in last season’s World Cup were linked to "proven doping".
IBU vice-president Olle Dahlin tells Around the Rings he is "shocked" by the revelations about the Russian doping scandal.
"I have seen a lot of things in the media and we are quite shocked about what we are reading," he said.
"No", he said when asked if he was aware of Russian athletes’ doping cases being covered up in exchange for bribes.
"It is very bad if things haven’t been ok. But it’s good to have light on it and have transparency," Dahlin said.
"We are fully transparent with the investigators," he added of the ongoing probe.
The IBU’s leadership has been left rudderless after the departure of Besseberg and Resch.
Dahlin said the IBU is planning an emergency executive board meeting in the coming days "to handle the situation".
Vice president Klaus Leistner has assumed temporary control of the federation pending the outcome of the Austrian police probe. First vice president Viktor Maygurov of Russia waived his statutory right to take over the president’s official functions due to conflict of interest.
"The IBU Executive Board is taking the matter extremely seriously and continues to be committed to operating under the highest standards of good governance and transparency," the federation said in a statement on Thursday.
IBU Vice President Max Cobb confirmed toATRthat the executive board is likely to meet in person in the coming weeks, but the timing of the raid has complicated things. The biathlon season wrapped up last month, meaning many members are scattered across the globe sorting out schedules.
Federation officials are continuing to "gather the information," Cobb said. He said that he pledged to work fully with investigators and with other relevant stakeholders, but the execution of the warrant has shaken the federation.
"I guess I’d say that the information that is out there is shocking in its dimension and while the investigation is ongoing we really don’t know how much of it is factual so it would be inappropriate to comment further on it," Cobb said to ATR. "I would say personally I remain really committed to an unfettered investigation on the facts within our investigation in our core values of integrity, transparency, clarity, and communication, will be what I bring to the table at the executive board level going forward here."
The doping scandal engulfing the IBU and Russia is likely to dominate discussions on the sidelines of SportAccord in Bangkok next week. The IBU told ATR it wasn’t clear who would be representing the federation at the conference.
"The media reports are very disturbing and I await full results of the various investigations,"WADA President Craig Reedie told ATR.
In a statement, the IOC said: "We have been informed of the circumstances by WADA and we have full confidence in them and the authorities to deal with this issue.
"In order to avoid such situations, the IOC has made the anti-doping system independent from the interests of international federations and nations. In this respect we renew our call to all international federations to join the newly created International Testing Agency."
Czech Comment on Scandal
Vlastimil Jakes, a vice president for the Czech Biathlon Union, told ATR he had suspicions about possible wrongdoing at the federation.
"There was nothing sure, but for a long time we hoped something like this could happen because the situation was very visible, but without any evidence we couldn't say anything," he said.
Jakes said at the congress in Moldova in 2016, which awarded Tyumen in Russia the 2021 World Championships, "it was clearly visible that something was under the table".
"To have 25 ballots for the world championship even in the situation with the evidence of doping before [McLaren report] and there were big discussions waiting for any other evidence from WADA about other doping cases," he said.
"It was really, really hard to believe and understand the situation that something like that could happen at the congress. After that, some nations announced a protest," he added, saying he was waiting for WADA or the IOC to uncover more evidence to support suspicions of wrongdoing.
"Now it is here and we are really happy. We can start at the congress in September in Croatia with a new future and this is what we really appreciate," Jakes said.
"I really hope for a better future in biathlon because some years ago we were the number one among the federations fighting against doping and now we are in this situation so it is very strange."
Written and reported by Mark Bisson, with additional reporting from Brian Pinelli
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