(ATR) A day after the IOC suspends further payments to the International Biathlon Union, the federation says it is encouraged that it will return to good graces in Lausanne.
The IOC Executive Board announced June 12 that it will suspend any further payments due to the IBU from TV rights revenue from the 2018 Winter Olympic Games until a presidential election is held in September.
The IOC statement says funds to the federation would be restored once the IBU can "provide a stable governance and leadership structure to the federation".
The IBU has been embroiled in controversy following a joint Austrian and Norwegian investigation into former president Anders Besseberg and secretary general Nicole Resch. Authorities are investigating links between the two executives and cover ups related to doping tests of Russian athletes. Besseberg and Resch stepped aside from the IBU pending the investigation.
"The IBU regards the decision by the IOC as an encouragement to implement the governance reform steps it has already agreed on in its IBU Executive Board Meetings," says a statement from the IBU released June 13.
"These include an external audit of the IBU anti-doping program conducted by the Institute of National Anti-doping Organizations (iNADO) and the establishment of an IBU Ethics Commission," says the IBU statement.
The IBU will hold elections for new leadership during its congress September 5-10.
The IOC Executive Board "confirmed it is satisfied" with actions taken by the federation, and an anti-doping audit done by the Institute of National Anti-Doping Organizations.
The IBU said it would join the IOC-created Independent Testing Authority. The board also took into account a report from the IBU Independent Working Group, which analyzed LIMS (Laboratory Information Management System) data from the Moscow anti-doping lab supplied by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
"These reports are requested to be provided by the IBU to the IOC by 10 September, and a summary presented to the IOC Executive Board for consideration at its meeting on 3 and 4 October," says the June 12 statement from the IOC.
The IBU says it is confident that the IOC will be satisfied with the information it has requested.
Since the self suspension of Besseberg, the presidency has been filled on an interim basis by Max Cobb, president of the U.S.Biathlon Association.
Homepage photo: Getty Images
Reported by Ed Hula.
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