Besserberg was paid with prostitutes: a new round of scandal around Russian biathlon

As Sport-Express reports with reference to the IBU press service, Anders Besseberg, who headed this organization from 1993 to 2018, admitted that he used the services of Russian prostitutes.

Informants told the Commission that Russian sports officials ordered prostitutes to Besseberg as a bribe. When the former head of the IBU came to Russia, he appeared everywhere as various young translators. The informants believe that these translators (provided by the Russian side) also provided intimate services.

During the World Cup stage in Khanty-Mansiysk, Besseberg met a Russian girl, with whom he later had sexual intercourse. According to Besseberg, the Russian woman herself said that she works as a dancer and loves biathlon very much. Later he saw her already in Tyumen, where they also had sex.

Besseberg also admitted that he often went hunting in Russia, where he never paid for anything.

And here are the details of the accusations of former IBU President Besseberg. The commission found out that he was supported by Russia and he did not spend the money he received in the federation.

The police found 13 watches in his house. Four of them are timed to specific tournaments, another 9 are luxury brand products. The ex-head of the IBU confirmed that he received a watch for 20 thousand euros during the 2011 World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk. Another one was presented to him by Alexander Tikhonov, the origin of another seven is unknown.

The commission concluded that the former head of the organization Anders Besseberg and former secretary general Nikrol Resch were guilty of hiding doping samples of Russian athletes. It was found that they defended the interests of Russia, especially in the anti-doping context, without good reason, turning a blind eye to obvious violations. The commission collected more than 70 thousand documents and interrogated 60 people.

Resh was found implicated in covering up anti-doping rule violations by Russian Yevgeny Ustyugov at the Sochi Olympics. It's about an athlete's doping test taken on February 16, 2014, in which an abnormal hemoglobin content was found. As a result, Ustyugov was disqualified, and Russia lost the gold medal in the relay, in which the doping biathlete participated.

In addition, it was also announced that former SBR presidents Alexander Tikhonov and Alexander Kravtsov were involved in several cases of corruption offenses. They tried to buy votes in the 2014 IBU congress elections. The allegations are based on testimony from an unnamed source who provided access to his email. He provided a letter sent to several member federations from the Balkan region stating that the Russian Biathlon Union is ready to provide annual support to the countries of the region, provided that they support Russian candidates during the 2014 IBU congress elections.

Tikhonov tried to bribe the former IBU Secretary General Nicole Resch, to whom he offered a jewelry box, so that she would stop the investigation of doping cases against Ekaterina Yuryeva, Albina Akhatova and Dmitry Yaroshenko.

Journalist Kirill Shulika writes about this:

“In general, this is one powerful blow to Russian sports and the disclosure of the facts of how Russian functionaries built corruption schemes in international federations. In biathlon, this is not at all the last. In Russia no one will be punished, although Kravtsov is already in jail for embezzlement. Tikhonov, on the other hand, lives quietly in Belarus. Therefore, athletes will suffer for the officials. And there is no need to ask "what for us?" For that very thing ... Everyone knew all the same. Everyone drank doping and listened to Tikhonov or Kravtsov saying that they would agree with Besseberg and Resh.

As the investigation shows, only Prokhorov, hated by everyone, at the head of the SBR did not build corrupt ties. But actually not Prokhorov, but Kushchenko.

Secondly, the investigations were in two federations - athletics and biathlon, both found corruption that came from Russia. Weak heads of international federations could not resist. This means that there will be checks and other federations. I am sure that they will start checking the ice hockey federation in the fall after Rene Fasel leaves. And this all means that soon the problems of Russian sports due to doping will seem like cute childish pranks to us. At the same time, in the biathlon itself, there are still claims to Besseberg and Resch. Kravtsov is in jail for embezzlement, and Tikhonov will now be blamed on insanity. But for Russia, this means special control and the absence of representatives in the leadership of the world biathlon ... "

Now Besseberg and Resch are under investigation.

The commission, meanwhile, did not find direct evidence that the IBU was hiding positive doping tests of the Russians. Nevertheless, at least one case will be investigated by the police - suspicions about Resh that she warned the Russian side about Ustyugov's positive doping test, which helped to hide her.

The most interesting thing is at the end of the Commission's report. But 22 pages are completely hidden from the public..."

The head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, Vitold Ban'ka, believes that this is only the beginning of eradicating corruption in sports:

“We are pleased that our work has helped this commission in the investigation, and we remain ready to assist law enforcement agencies and the IBU in any way possible in the remainder of this case”, - WADA's official website quoted Banya as saying.