Cross-country skiing: FIS accomplishes U-turn in doping scandal

In the case of the six Russian cross-country skiers who were banned for life from competing in the Olympic Games because of the doping scandal, the FIS has made a U-turn and has now temporarily suspended the athletes concerned. This was announced by the FIS on Thursday afternoon.

The Russian athletes around the Sochi winner Alexander Legkov are no longer eligible for FIS races. Last week, the association had decided against suspending it.

In an opinion, the FIS cited the reasons for the revaluation as being the written justification of the IOC’s Oswald Commission in the Legkov case published on Monday.

“The FIS is concerned about the extent of the systematic conspiracy to prevent positive tests of Russian athletes at the Olympic Games in Sochi, as presented in the IOC decision in detail and with convincing evidence,”the FIS said.

The IOC had banned Legkov, Yevgeny Belov, Maxim Vylegshanin, Alexei Petukhov, Yulia Ivanova and Yevgeniya Shapovalova from Olympic Games in all their functions for life at the beginning of November.

The sextet denies any misconduct and has already announced its intention to go to the International Sports Court CAS. Last weekend, Below and Wylegschanin started at the first World Cup in Kuusamo, but missed podium finishes.

The anti-doping panel of the FIS now found that it was “most likely” that the Oswald Commission’s justification for the verdict was that the athletes had participated in the systematic conspiracy.

Athletes would have the right to due process and personal consultation before a final decision is made.

The suspensions happened in the interest of fair competition in the cross-country World Cup and the qualification for the upcoming Olympic Winter Games.

“This surprised me a little bit, because the previous position of the FIS was that the investigations of the IOC commission did not yield any new facts,”Legkov’s lawyer Christof Wieschemann told the SID. For him, the previous evaluation of the FIS was “correct”, Wieschemann explained.

The lawyer had already criticized the Oswald Commission after the publication of the reasons for the ruling, saying,”We could have spared ourselves the hearings. The Commission already had a ruling before we opened the door to the meeting room”, said a statement on Wednesday.

In total, the Oswald Commission has so far blocked 22 Russian athletes for life for Olympic Games. The International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) and the International Biathlon Union (IBU) have also declared suspensions in the cases for which they are responsible.

In the ruling in the Legkov case, the Oswald Commission had recognised the McLaren Report, which for years attested Russia to an institutionalised doping system, and spoke of a “conspiracy”.

It also classified Whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov as a “credible witness”. The IOC will decide next Tuesday on the exclusion of Russia from the Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang.