The Biathlon Integrity Unit (BIU) announced today that it has issued the following sanctions against retired Russian athlete Olga Zaytseva. 

A period of Intelligibility of two (2) years to commence on 24 September 2020 and ending on 23 September 2022 is imposed on Ms Olga Zaytseva.

All competitive results obtained by Ms Olga Zaytseva after the Olympic Games 2014 and until her retirement from competition in October 2014, with all resulting Consequences, including the forfeiture of any titles, awards, medals, points prizes and appearance money, are disqualified.

On 24 September 2020, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) issued an award in the matter between the athlete, Olga Zaytseva and the International Olympic Committee confirming an Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRV) by Ms Zaytseva during the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February 2014.

The Athlete filed an Appeal to the Swiss Supreme Court against the CAS award.  On 23 August 2021, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal. 

Further to the issuance on 24 September 2020, as well as the consequences related to the Olympic Games, the above mentioned consequences beyond the Olympic Games, which were reserved by the CAS Award, have now been issued by the BIU pursuant to the then applicable IBU Anti-Doping Regulations.

Greg McKenna, the Head of the BIU, said: 

“Although these anti-doping rule violations have occurred more than seven years ago, the BIU sanctions send a strong message that we will always ensure those identified as being responsible for cheating, will be held accountable!”

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.