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Even retired, Fourcade is getting closer to a 6th Olympic title

2020-10-27T19:03:27.101Z


Martin Fourcade could inherit a new Olympic coronation if the conviction of Evgeny Ustyugov, crowned in 2010, is confirmed.


Biathlete Martin Fourcade, retired since March, was already the most successful French athlete at the Olympic Games.

With the new doping conviction of Russian Evgeny Ustyugov, he should further enhance his record with a 6th gold medal.

Evgeny Ustyugov was indeed condemned by the anti-doping chamber of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) following the analysis of his biological passport, as announced on Tuesday by the International Biathlon Federation (IBU), which canceled all its results. obtained between 2010 and 2014. The Russian has 21 days to appeal.

One last obstacle before a potential new Olympic title for Martin Fourcade.

This last medal could have been his first ...

This 6th medal which is getting closer, could have been the first: at 22 years old, Martin Fourcade had revealed himself to the general public by finishing second in the mass start of the Vancouver Games in 2010 behind Ustyugov, while he had not climbed on no individual World Cup podium so far.

This race acts as a trigger and marks the birth of a charismatic champion who then dominates the world biathlon from 2012 to 2018 and accumulates records.

He thus won six other Olympic medals, including five in gold (individual and pursuit in 2014, pursuit, mass start and mixed relay in 2018) which made him the most successful Frenchman at the Games, certainly in a sport that offered each Olympiad several title opportunities.

Martin Fourcade has also won the overall World Cup ranking seven times, a record, and 28 world medals including 13 titles, before retiring last March.

No comment

Contacted by AFP, he said he "did not wish to speak before the final judgment".

Ironically, it is with the file of a Russian competitor that he should recover this new title, he who stood out in his career by taking a "cash" stance against Russian biathlon, recognized for have been part of an institutionalized doping system.

It was precisely on the basis of analyzes of data from the Moscow laboratory, at the heart of the institutional doping system that reigned in Russia between 2011 and 2015, that Ustyugov was convicted for the first time in February for doping with oxandrolone (a steroid), already causing him to lose a gold medal obtained in relay at the Sochi Games in 2014. This time the Russian is accused of using "a prohibited substance or method" on the basis of the analysis of his biological passport between 2010 and 2014.

"Mr.

Ustyugov benefited from protection and assistance to artificially improve his performance through doping and to avoid being discovered, which he could not have achieved other than with a cleverly organized system ”, also notes the IBU in its press release Tuesday.

All results of Evgeni Ustyugov (35), retired since 2014, are canceled between January 2010 and the end of the 2013/2014 season.

He must thus lose two medals acquired at the Vancouver Games in 2010 (gold in the mass start and bronze in the relay) and two at the Khanty-Mansiysk Worlds in Russia in 2011 (silver in the mass start and in the relay ).

"Ridiculous" decision for Ustyugov's lawyer

Alexeï Panitch, lawyer for the biathlete quoted by the TASS agency on Tuesday, considers the decision "simply ridiculous".

"The anti-doping chamber of the CAS has no competence to examine this case because Evgeny has never accepted the existence of the competences of this institution", he believes.

He criticizes in particular the CAS for having condemned him while at the time of the facts (2010), the prescription for doping cases was set by the IBU at eight years and was only increased to 10 years in 2019. : “In other words, the arbitrator considers that the limitation period can be retroactively increased to infinity.

(...) This decision contains numerous violations of legal standards ”.

This case is the first to be completed by the Biathlon Integrity Unit, an independent body created in 2019 to deal with doping cases in particular.

Read also

  • Doping: US sprinter Christian Coleman suspended for two years

Source: lefigaro

All sports articles on 2020-10-27

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