Biathlon: Martin Fourcade to win sixth Olympic gold medal
Last November, the rejection of biathlete Evgeny Ustyugov’s appeal before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) enabled Martin Fourcade, who won silver in the mass start at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games behind the Russian, to take a huge step towards a sixth Olympic gold medal.
However, one obstacle remained in his path: the Russian’s appeal to the Swiss Federal Court. An appeal that was also rejected, revealed the Biathlon Integrity Unit in a statement on Thursday. “These final decisions confirm the previous decisions of the IBU Anti-Doping Hearing Panel and CAS, upholding the sanctions for anti-doping rule violations”, it added.
“The decisions of the Swiss Federal Supreme Court are the final court of appeal. Thanks to this decision, the verdicts become legally binding”, it goes on to say. In other words, the annulment of Evgeny Ustyugov’s results from 24 January 2010 to the end of the 2013/2014 season.
In the coming months, Martin Fourcade will therefore reclaim his sixth Olympic biathlon title. “It is now up to the IOC Executive Board to decide on the reallocation of medals from the 2010 and 2014 Olympic Winter Games”, says the announcement.
Slovakia’s Pavol Hurajt took silver and Austria’s Christoph Sumann bronze. In the relay, Russia will lose the bronze medal to Sweden (Fredrik Lindstroem, Carl-Johan Bergman, Mattias Nilsson, Bjoern Ferry). As for Sochi 2014, Norway will take bronze in the relay.
