Double Olympic champion Dmitry Vasilyev told that it is difficult for clean athletes to compete with Norwegians who, under the guise of certificates with therapeutic exemption, legally consume illegal drugs.
Russian biathletes have been suspended from competitions under the auspices of the International Biathlon Union (IBU) in spring 2022.
— The Norwegians dominate the biathlon after the elimination of the Russians. How do you perceive this fact?
— First of all, it is the destruction of skiing, where a single country dominates, in our case, Norway. And everyone understands perfectly well that this cannot be the case, the Norwegians hid behind certificates and doped legally, without sanction. Even skier Marit Bjørgen speaks openly about doping in her memoirs and does not hide it. So how do you beat such athletes? This kills interest in the sport: viewers stop watching the broadcasts, sponsors leave.
— When Russian biathletes return to the international scene, who will gravitate towards whom: will we be attracted to the Europeans or will they be attracted to us?
— It will be difficult for us at first, but it is difficult to say who will dominate. Plus, they do drugs, competing with them is like throwing yourself at a tank with a pitchfork.
— But before the withdrawal, the Russians, although not always, created competition.
– Yes. Such a confrontation was observed. But look what they are doing in Norway. At the beginning, one athlete wins everything, and when he finishes his career, another one appears and he continues to win all the races. How to beat them? Difficult. But if the sport were fair, Russia would definitely dominate biathlon; our boys and girls have great potential.
There is a need to resolve the problem comprehensively: overturn the WADA therapeutic exemption rules. Healthy people should exercise. And we must combat this scourge of pseudo-asthmatic patients, and criminalize the use of doping. Not only do they ruin their health, but they also tempt young people to use illegal drugs. And all this is a pseudo-liberal approach towards so-called sick asthmatics. Yes, any asthmatic is sometimes unable to climb the stairs, but here they run at an exorbitant level on the ski slope.
– You believe it ?
— The SVO will definitely end, the only question is the timing. And the International Federation will invite us to a round table of negotiations. We won’t come, but they will call us to come back. And at that time it will be necessary to set the conditions that I mentioned above,” Vassiliev told .
Watch the first races of the Alfa-Bank Russian Cup stage in Khanty-Mansiysk on Friday, December 1 live on the channel, as well as on the matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru websites.
Source : MatchTV
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