BIU and Athlete Ambassador for Integrity Matters Anastasiya Merkushyna produce whistleblowing video

 The goal of the Biathlon Integrity Unit is to work for a safe and fair environment for everybody involved in biathlon.

But we can’t do it alone. We need the help of the biathlon family to identify and, if necessary, prosecute wrongdoing in our sport. 

This is where the role of the whistleblower is critical. Athletes, coaches, administrators – in fact anyone involved in biathlon – can help us by becoming our eyes and ears and reporting something that doesn’t look right. 

Athletes often think that something isn’t worth reporting. But whether they saw it at training, or heard it at a competition, no piece of information is useless. It can all fit together into a ‘jigsaw puzzle’ that tells us more than they might think. 

We’ve made a short video, with the help of Anastasiya Merkushyna, IBU World Championship medallist and one of our athlete ambassadors, explaining our whistleblowing process. 

Whistleblowing is the right thing to do because we’re all responsible for making sure that biathlon is a clean, fair and safe sport for everyone, Anastasiya says. 

And it’s not just about doping, she continues. We should report anything that’s not right, including match-fixing or results manipulation, safeguarding issues such as bullying or sexual harassment, and betting on biathlon, which is not allowed for athletes.

 The BIU’s reporting system for wrongdoing is completely confidential, Anastasiya concludes. No one will know if you become a whistleblower.) 

The video’s message is simple. Whistleblowing can lead not only to prosecution, but to improvements in education and supporting measures for athletes. 

So if you see or hear something that isn’t right: report it – and turn the negative into a positive!

Click here to watch the video.

 Click here to report wrongdoing.

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.