PHOTO: Bildbyrån
The biathlon world is currently being shaken by a huge scandal.
Which causes the WC gold hero Sebastian Samuelsson to react strongly.
– My suspicions have been confirmed, he says to Radiosporten.
The entire sport of biathlon is now being shaken by a major scandal of gross corruption at the very highest level. As long as 26 years was the Norwegian ski profile Anders Besseberg president of the International Biathlon Union, IBU.
Norwegian scandal
He then resigned in 2018 in public and has since been scrutinized for suspicions of corruption. The Norwegian is said to have protected Russia’s interests and received money to cover up doping cases.
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Now the news has come that Besseberg is charged with gross corruption for crimes allegedly committed in the years 2009-2018. The Norwegian Economic Crime Investigation Agency, Økokrim, reports that bribes in the form of watches, hunting trips and trophies and prostitutes are involved.
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Sebbe’s criticism
According to information, there is evidence that bribes must have been received during a ten-year period when the Norwegian was president of the IBU. But Besseberg denies any wrongdoing.
“He maintains that he has never accepted bribes or tried to influence the IBU’s anti-doping work for the benefit of anyone,” announces the Norwegian’s lawyer Christian B Hjort to Norwegian NTB.
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The Swedish WC gold hero Sebastian Samuelsson was already critical in 2018 and is now airing his dissatisfaction again with how it was managed.
– I remember being quite upset actually. It is clear that I think that Besseberg in his last years as president of the IBU did a very bad job. I had said in some interview before this raid that there is something that feels very wrong and I think there is a lot of money involved in this, that it is some form of corruption. For that reason, my suspicions have come true, says “Sebbe” to Radiosporten.
– There were a lot of people who were upset about the decisions that he made and there were a lot of decisions that went Russia’s way with many competitions that went there despite their anti-doping organization not being approved by Wada. And it went against what many biathletes and what the biathlon public wanted. There were a lot of strange decisions.
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Samuelsson admits that he is not at all surprised that Anders Besseberg is now being prosecuted for corruption. The biathletes tried to reach the Norwegian and have meetings with the IBU president but it was in vain.
– It was very difficult to have a dialogue with Besseberg, he did not want to have any discussion with the activists. We, riders, tried to have meetings but once things got tough, he always had to leave or go off on something else. I am very happy that IBU is managed in a completely different way today than it was then, says Sebbe in the interview.
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