Interview with Clare Egan, Chair of the IBU Athletes´ Committee
Clare Egan: doping isn’t necessary – and I’m an example of that
Biathlon is as vulnerable to doping and other integrity abuses as any other sport, warns Clare Egan, chair of the IBU Athletes’ Committee.
But, speaking exclusively with the Biathlon Integrity Unit in a Zoom interview from her home in New York, Clare, one of our most experienced athletes who is competing in her last season as a professional biathlete, has some great advice for anyone who might be tempted to break the rules.
Doping is “not necessary, and I’m an example of that,” she says, pointing to her “breakout” season when she had the fastest courstime in one of the IBU World Cups, as a clean 31-year-old athlete. “If I can do that, truly anyone can,” she says.
Education about athletes’ rights and responsibilities is key, she says, stressing that investigations by the BIU are increasingly productive in uncovering doping.
And, while the need to provide Whereabouts information can be inconvenient and annoying for clean athletes, “it’s a very small sacrifice to pay to play our part in keeping the sport clean.”
Prior to 2018, Clare says she doubted the effectiveness of the systems in place to protect biathlon from doping and other integrity issues. But now, she concludes, with the formation of the BIU and other integrity measures, “I can say that the biggest improvement is that I, and I hope many of my fellow athletes, have much more faith in the system that we have in place to deal with integrity issues.”
To watch the interview, click here.
BIU – Ready for an Olympic Season
BIU builds on robust out-of-competition testing programme ahead of new season and Beijing 2022 Olympics
The Biathlon Integrity Unit is preparing for the start of the new biathlon season on Saturday 27 November, building on a summer competition and training season in which it maintained a robust out-of-competition anti-doping testing regime.
That regime followed an in-depth risk assessment that was carried out during the 2020-21 season, resulting in the establishment of the International Biathlon Union’s Registered Testing Pool of athletes that are subject to out-of-competition testing.
Testing levels increased slightly over the period, compared with the previous season, with almost 800 samples collected (urine, blood and Athlete Biological Passport) since 1 May, despite the testing restrictions imposed by the continuing effects of the Covid pandemic.
Testing ahead of next year’s Beijing 2022 winter Olympic Games is being implemented in collaboration with the International Testing Agency (ITA), which is in charge of the pre-Games testing programme on behalf of the International Olympic Committee.
The programme is operated in close co-operation with National Anti-Doping Agencies, helping to ensure that Olympic athletes not included in the IBU Registered Testing Pool are nevertheless subject to testing ahead of the Games.
Greg McKenna, Head of the BIU, said: ‘On the lead up the Games, to ensure our athletes are safe and fully supported, we will be increasing our efforts on whereabouts research, sample collection, sample analysis, intelligence gathering and investigations.
‘This will be supported by targeted communications and education, designed to ensure the Biathlon Family is well informed. I must stress, integrity of our sport is a team game, and so if you have any information which may assist in protecting somebody or identifying wrongdoing, we are always available to listen’.
The new biathlon season begins with the first BMW IBU World Cup event of the season in Oestersund, Sweden, on 27 to 28 November, 2021.
The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games are scheduled for 4 to 20 February, 2022.
Note to Editors
The Biathlon Integrity Unit is an operationally independent and specialised unit of the International Biathlon Union. It was established in 2019 in order to ensure all of Biathlon’s stakeholders can have confidence that ethical issues in the sport will be addressed independently and expertly.
Revised IBU Integrity Code
Whereabouts failures to incur €500 penalty under revised IBU Integrity Code
Athletes who miss a second Whereabouts out-of-competition anti-doping test will in future have to pay the Biathlon Integrity Unit €500, as a contribution towards the costs incurred by the BIU in processing that filing failure or missed test.
Moreover, in order to ensure payment, the liability for the payment will fall jointly and severally on both athletes and their national federations.
This pioneering new measure, which reinforces the importance of Whereabouts as the foundation of a credible anti-doping testing strategy, forms part of the revised International Biathlon Union Integrity Code which comes into force on 19 November 2021.
The only exception to the rule will be for athletes who commit a Whereabouts filing failure or miss a test for the first time, and who do not dispute the rule.
The BIU is implementing the revision to help offset the significant costs involved in dealing with Whereabouts failures. The financial contributions made by athletes and/or national federations will then be reinvested in doping prevention.
Involving national federations underlines the importance of the role that NFs play in Whereabouts by ensuring that they are invested in the system.
Greg McKenna, head of the Biathlon Integrity Unit, said: “Providing accurate and timely information on their Whereabouts, is an opportunity for our Athletes to contribute to a clean and safe sport. We believe Biathlon is one of the first sports to implement a financial penalty system for a filing failure or missed test. But, as a new season approaches, my message to our Athletes is: ‘Make sure your Whereabouts information is up to date. Don’t get caught out and have to pay €500 – or worse’.”
Note to Editors
The Biathlon Integrity Unit is an operationally independent and specialised unit of the International Biathlon Union. It was established in 2019 in order to ensure all of Biathlon’s stakeholders can have confidence that ethical issues in the sport will be addressed independently and expertly.
The reivsed IBU Integrity Code can be found here:
Podcast – Greg McKenna
Greg McKenna, head of the Biathlon Integrity Unit, has recorded a podcast interview discussing the progress made by the BIU, since it was set up in October 2019 to handle all integrity-related matters in Biathlon.
Now, two years later, what are its achievements? How can it win the battle against doping? What other integrity issues are a threat to Biathlon? And how can athletes and fans be reassured that Biathlon is a clean sport?
In this podcast interview with Callum Murray, Greg discusses the important part the BIU is playing in educating the Biathlon family, together with the crucial role of clean athletes in supporting its work through the whereabouts system and, if necessary, by passing on information about their own suspicions.
Click here to listen to the interview.
BIU ANNUAL REPORT 2020/2021
By Greg McKenna, Head of the Biathlon Integrity Unit
In yesteryear, and still to an extent today, the fight against doping has been seen, somewhat simplistically, as athletes facing a urine or blood test during competition to ascertain the potential presence of a prohibited substance. Yet, as with so much in the world in which we live, things are not quite that simple. And that’s why, as the anti-doping movement has grown, so too has the number of tools in our toolbox to detect, deter and even prevent doping.
Out-of-competition testing, intelligence and investigations, whistleblowing, the Athlete Biological Passport are all examples of new features in anti-doping’s toolbox, yet there is one significant trend that we in anti-doping and sports integrity have become increasingly aware of, and that’s the fact that often behind a doped athlete is a support member, someone in a position of power – be it a coach, doctor, physician or agent – coercing an athlete into doping.
And it’s with this emerging trend, and increasing evidence that athletes rarely dope alone, that the WADA Prohibited Association rule was implemented into the World Anti-Doping Code back in 2015. In simple terms, the Prohibited Association rule makes it an offence for an athlete to associate with a person ‘in a professional or sport-related capacity’ if you know they are serving a doping ban. In terms of what ‘associating’ with them could look like, well it could, amongst other things, mean receiving coaching or training, obtaining medical or nutritional or any other type of advice. By associating with a banned individual, you could run the risk of a two-year ban, or even more if ‘aggravating circumstances’ are at play (for example, a second or third offence).
To breach the Prohibited Association rule, you must have been given notice (of the person’s banned status and the potential consequences of prohibited association) by your National Anti-Doping Organisation (NADO), Integrity Unit (such as the BIU), National Governing Body (NGB), WADA or another Anti-Doping Organization that has jurisdiction over you. And then, after receiving that notice, you must have continued to associate with the banned person in a professional or sport-related capacity. Yet, even if you haven’t received notice, there’s potential that you could be breaching another Anti-Doping Rule Violation, not to mention harm your reputation. So, it’s important as a biathlete, you get to grips with this important rule.
To help with Prohibited Association, WADA has compiled a list – which it updates on a quarterly basis – of banned individuals. This list, however, is not definitive as it may not be fully up to date and it is not exhaustive, so our advice to biathletes is to check in with they NADO or us at the Biathlon Integrity Unit if you want clarification.
It’s important to keep good company in your sport, to stay on the right side of the rules. Support members can be a great influence on a biathlete, but in a position of power they can also adversely influence you and take you down the wrong path – this is something all biathletes will want to avoid.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch as together, we can play our part in ensuring a better biathlon.
BIU participates at IBU Coach Webinar
The Biathlon Integrity Unit (BIU) was pleased to play a key role at the IBU Coach Webinar, which took place this week from 21 – 23 September, online via Zoom.
The webinar, which was staged for coaches and other interested National Federation (NF) members was on the topic of Female specificity in training and Youth & Junior athlete preparation.
Over the course of the webinar, over 350 coaches and other participants benefitted from the expertise of an international team of sports training experts and experienced biathlon coaches who helped participants broaden their knowledge about the principles of training with young (female) athletes. Participants were encouraged to share ideas, ask questions and learn from other professionals through the webinar experience.
As it relates to biathlon integrity, Professor Dr. Cornelia Blank ran a session on Thursday 23 September on the topic of Personality development in professional youth sport – how doping prevention can be part of it.
Professor Blank is Professor and deputy head of the Institute for Sports Medicine, Alpine Medicine and Health Tourism at the University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology (UMIT TIROL) in Hall in Tirol, Austria; and she is an expert on doping-related projects and health promotion in sport. Professor Blank has an interest in developing and evaluating current doping prevention strategies, integrating athletes and athlete support personnel’s perspectives.
Professor Dr. Cornelia Blank said: “A very important component in anti-doping prevention is the involvement of all participants, especially the coaches can provide a significant support in the area of anti-doping education and help the athletes in their development to become empowered individuals in terms of anti-doping”.
CAS Announces 18 Month Ban for Biathlete in Whereabouts Case
The Anti-Doping Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS ADD) today announced a 18-month ban on Andrejs Rastorgujevs (Latvia) following 3 whereabouts failures in 12 months.
The CAS partially upheld the charges brought against the athlete by the Biathlon Integrity Unit, but reduced the period of ineligibility from 24 to 18 months. The CAS ADD issued the following decision on Rastorgujevs:
• Andrejs Rastorgujevs is found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation pursuant to Article 2.4 of the IBU ADR (three Whereabouts Failures within a 12-month period).
• Andrejs Rastorgujevs is sanctioned with a period of ineligibility of eighteen (18) months.
• The period of ineligibility shall commence on 11 March 2021, which is the start date of the provisional suspension imposed on Andrejs Rastorgujevs.
• All competitive results obtained by Andrejs Rastorgujevs from 1 July 2020 until the date on which the CAS ADD decision enters into force are disqualified, with all resulting consequences including forfeiture of medals, points and prizes.
Head of the Biathlon Integrity Unit, Greg McKenna, said:
“The whereabouts system is a core pillar of the global anti-doping structure and the BIU will make sure that it is upheld in our sport. All biathletes have a responsibility to keep their whereabouts information up to date and to avoid missing any tests. As we can see in this case, whereabouts failures can result in anti-doping rule violations and sanctions.”
Rastorguyevs finished in 30th place in the overall IBU World Cup in the previous season. He won the Gold medal in the Individual competition of the Open European Championships (OECH) in 2021 – a result that will be disqualified if there is no appeal or the CAS Appeals Arbitration Division upholds the verdict.
The CAS ADD award may be appealed to the CAS Appeals Arbitration Division within 21 days from receipt of the notification of the final award.
Keeping good company: Why the Prohibited Association rule is important to protect the clean athletes
By Greg McKenna, Head of the Biathlon Integrity Unit
In yesteryear, and still to an extent today, the fight against doping has been seen, somewhat simplistically, as athletes facing a urine or blood test during competition to ascertain the potential presence of a prohibited substance. Yet, as with so much in the world in which we live, things are not quite that simple. And that’s why, as the anti-doping movement has grown, so too has the number of tools in our toolbox to detect, deter and even prevent doping.
Out-of-competition testing, intelligence and investigations, whistleblowing, the Athlete Biological Passport are all examples of new features in anti-doping’s toolbox, yet there is one significant trend that we in anti-doping and sports integrity have become increasingly aware of, and that’s the fact that often behind a doped athlete is a support member, someone in a position of power – be it a coach, doctor, physician or agent – coercing an athlete into doping.
And it’s with this emerging trend, and increasing evidence that athletes rarely dope alone, that the WADA Prohibited Association rule was implemented into the World Anti-Doping Code back in 2015. In simple terms, the Prohibited Association rule makes it an offence for an athlete to associate with a person ‘in a professional or sport-related capacity’ if you know they are serving a doping ban. In terms of what ‘associating’ with them could look like, well it could, amongst other things, mean receiving coaching or training, obtaining medical or nutritional or any other type of advice. By associating with a banned individual, you could run the risk of a two-year ban, or even more if ‘aggravating circumstances’ are at play (for example, a second or third offence).
To breach the Prohibited Association rule, you must have been given notice (of the person’s banned status and the potential consequences of prohibited association) by your National Anti-Doping Organisation (NADO), Integrity Unit (such as the BIU), National Governing Body (NGB), WADA or another Anti-Doping Organization that has jurisdiction over you. And then, after receiving that notice, you must have continued to associate with the banned person in a professional or sport-related capacity. Yet, even if you haven’t received notice, there’s potential that you could be breaching another Anti-Doping Rule Violation, not to mention harm your reputation. So, it’s important as a biathlete, you get to grips with this important rule.
To help with Prohibited Association, WADA has compiled a list – which it updates on a quarterly basis – of banned individuals. This list, however, is not definitive as it may not be fully up to date and it is not exhaustive, so our advice to biathletes is to check in with they NADO or us at the Biathlon Integrity Unit if you want clarification.
It’s important to keep good company in your sport, to stay on the right side of the rules. Support members can be a great influence on a biathlete, but in a position of power they can also adversely influence you and take you down the wrong path – this is something all biathletes will want to avoid.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch as together, we can play our part in ensuring a better biathlon.
BIU Athlete Ambassadors begin terms to protect the integrity of Biathlon
Leading biathletes Anastasiya Merkushyna (Ukraine), Julian Eberhard (Austria) and Sebastian Samuelsson (Sweden) have today begun their terms as BIU Athlete Ambassadors for integrity matters. The three ambassadors will serve their roles supporting the Biathlon Integrity Unit, as part of the broader International Biathlon Union (IBU) Ambassador Programme which – covering Sustainability, Gender Equality and Integrity – officially launched today.
The BIU’s goal is to build trust and confidence in the sport, with a mandate that covers anti-doping, anti-corruption, safeguarding, betting and match fixing – all areas where the ambassadors can truly make their mark.
In their roles as Athlete Ambassadors, Merkushyna, Eberhard and Samuelsson will have the opportunity to educate, motivate and lead by example on integrity-related matters and to help the BIU spread its positive message at an exciting time for the sport.
Amongst the ambassadors’ responsibilities will be: regularly engaging with the BIU to share ideas and opinions; connecting with other athletes to educate and increase awareness of the BIU’s role; disseminating integrity-related information, speaking at events, seminars and workshops; and, joining educational training sessions.
“I see it as my responsibility as a top-level athlete to commit to different topics related to my sport. Integrity matters are very important to me and being highly critical of the issues we have in that area, I also wanted to be part of the solution,” said multiple Olympic and World Champion and IBU Athlete Ambassador, Sebastian Samuelsson.
“The BIU is delighted to have Anastasiya, Julian and Sebastian join the Athlete Ambassador Programme for integrity matters. This is not only a huge chance for the athletes to engage more closely with the Unit, but it’s a great opportunity for the Unit to forge a closer link with our number one audience: the biathletes,” said BIU Head, Greg McKenna.
“Our three new ambassadors will act as the bridge between biathletes and the Unit, and ensure we have our finger on the pulse of athlete opinion across our sport. This programme will also ensure that biathletes have a voice at the BIU’s decision-making table, which is essential for the longevity of our sport. This is an exciting step forward for the Unit and all that can be achieved if we work together with biathletes,” he added.
As with the athlete ambassadors across the Sustainability and Gender Equality programmes, Merkushyna, Eberhard and Samuelsson will serve two year terms, with the opportunity to extend the duration if they wish.
