Four-time world biathlon champion, former president of the Russian Biathlon Union (RBU) Vladimir Drachev struggled to say when Russia had the strongest squad and noted that the doping scandal cast a shadow over the 2008 team’s success.
Earlier, world champion Anton Babikov in an interview with said that he considers the Russian men’s team of the 2012-2013 model to be the strongest team.
At the World Championships in February 2008 in Sweden, the Russian team won 11 prizes: 3 gold, 3 silver and 5 bronze. In December of the same year, the leaders of the national team of this period Ekaterina Yurieva , Dmitri Yaroshenko and Albina Akhatova passed positive doping tests for EPO. Athletes were disqualified for 2 years each.
“Do you agree with Babikov?” It’s hard to count here. They don’t remember how people ran past them. It seems to me that it was a good period in 2008 at the world championships. Then there was probably the greatest flow of medals. But do you see how to consider the team as the best if there were also dopants? How can he be considered as such, if he was?! Why? In December 2008, remember, people passed positive doping tests, then they were disqualified. And then it rolled, and there were still cases, and 2014 was taken away. How to assess these situations? Here, too, we have to look inside ourselves if we want to assess,” Drachev told .
Source : MatchTV
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
