Biathlon union defies Olympic committee, upholds ban on Russian, Belarusian athletes
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The International Biathlon Union (IBU) has declined to discuss a request by the Russian national body to review their suspension from competitions, a spokesperson for the Russia body wrote on Telegram on Aug. 18.
The IBU is the entity officially recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the world governing body for biathlon. The IOC lifted its suspension of Russian and Belarusian athletes on July 7, prompting a flood of sports organizations to follow suit.
Sergei Averianov, the head of press for Russia's national biathlon organization, claimed that Russia wanted the matter of their suspension to be discussed at the IBU's congress, set to take place in Germany on Sept. 17.
"However, just as two years ago, there are no plans to discuss these matters at the Congress," Averianov wrote.
"The IBU's position is that the conditions which formed the basis for the suspension of Russian athletes in 2022 have still not been resolved, and therefore they will not be reconsidering their previous decision," he said.
The IBU itself has not put out any statements regarding the upholding of the suspension at the time of publication.
Averianov also mentioned that Russia is challenging the IBU via the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which has been reviewing the case for three months.
The IBU's decision to uphold the ban sets biathlon apart from a wide range of sports that have since followed the IOC's lead by allowing Russians and Belarusians to compete once again.
Handball, volleyball, pentathlon, table tennis, boxing, and motorsports have all lifted their bans as a consequence of the IOC ruling.
In the wake of the IOC's ruling, the EU is reviewing what measures to take in response.
Nine EU countries issued a letter requesting that any organizations that relax their suspensions on Russian and Belarusian athletes should be stripped of EU funding they receive.
There are also discussions about including relevant sporting bodies in the bloc's next sanctions package, which two EU diplomats told the Kyiv Independent contains roughly 1,500 new listings.
