The start of the 2017 Biathlon World Championship will be remembered for a long time, and it will not be discussed for the exciting mixed relay race, where. The subject of gossip will be the participation of the Frenchman Martin Fourcade and the Russian Alexander Loginov at the transfer of the stage, as well as what followed at the award ceremony, when Loginov and Anton Shipulin were the leader of the World Cup, and he.
Readers began to heatedly discuss what was happening and began with the moment between Loginov and Fourcade. The French biathlete had both defenders and those who condemned him, with the latter being the overwhelming majority.
“I watched the episode with Loginov’s fall 15 times and didn’t see Fourcade’s intention to shoot him down. In my opinion, it all happened by accident, and many commentators attacked him without even knowing who Fourcade was. Your saliva still won’t reach him,” one user wrote about the incident.
Another concerned viewer expressed confidence that if a similar situation had happened to other biathletes, then there would not be such a noise now. “Fourcade is a professional of the highest class and could deliberately make a trip with pinpoint precision. But in biathlon, collisions and falls are not uncommon, especially when passing the baton, when many athletes come to change at the same time. If it weren’t for Fourcade and Loginov, no one would have noticed this. When general hysteria arises, someone needs to keep a cool head,” the reader responded calmly.
Others looked for intent in the Frenchman’s actions. “Such ordinary moments do not happen after addressed to the one he dropped. He did what he planned,” was the comment left by an Internet user.
Some did not hesitate to speak succinctly about the Frenchman’s lack of moral qualities. “Conscience and Fourcade are incompatible,” one user noted. Another called on the International Biathlon Union (IBU) to pay attention to the situation. “No, he (Fourcade. - RT) conscience. All his actions should be investigated by the IBU, and if they refuse, they should sue!” — the user expressed indignation.
Another commentator expressed bewilderment at Fourcade’s antics, but did not forget to insert the usual phrase about a mixture of politics and sports. “Sport has become so politicized that you don’t even want to watch it anymore, and Fourcade’s action is not the smartest person’s action. If you believe so much in your own strength, why react this way to a person whom you supposedly do not respect? Who respects you? - the reader asked.
After the finish, Fourcade was punished for his behavior, but this did not serve as a reason for users to calm down and stop discussing his action. One of the biathlon fans doubted the sincerity of Martin’s actions after the finish. “Fourcade’s false apology after his demonstrative attack on Loginov only showed his disdain for our athletes, coaches and functionaries,” suggested a fan of one of the most popular winter sports.
“His apology does not relieve our functionaries from the obligation to file a complaint. If we don’t give it in, no one will appreciate our generosity anyway, they’ll spoil it,” the user noted. “It’s impossible not to react and forgive Fourcade’s swinish attacks, declaring that he is,” another emphasized.
Already at the award ceremony, where the winners and medalists of the mixed relay greeted and thanked each other for the fight, Loginov and Shipulin ignored Fourcade. Offended, Martin considered it necessary to leave the podium; he returned there only after persistent efforts by IBU head Anders Besseberg.
Readers found different reasons for this behavior of the biathlete from France. “Yes, when the Lord gave away conscience, Fourcade stood in line for envy,” wrote one. "Every family has its black sheep. Fourcade is not a man and doesn’t know how to lose with dignity,” said another. “Let him say thank you that our guys have strong nerves and good hearts. But they might not have been able to restrain themselves,” said a third.
Some readers summarized that with such quirks, Marten only makes things worse for himself: “You disgraced yourself once, showed the whole world what an offended girl you are, but why did you come back? You have to be able to wildly embarrass yourself twice in a few seconds.”
Experienced fans recalled the story of Russian swimmer Yulia Efimova at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Americans Lilly King and Katherine Meili, who took first and third places respectively in the 100-meter breaststroke, did not congratulate Efimova on her silver, refusing to shake her hand during the award ceremony. This behavior is due to the fact that Yulia competed after serving a disqualification for using prohibited drugs.
“Our people didn’t shake his hand. It’s unsportsmanlike, of course, just like the Americans didn’t shake hands with our Efimova in Rio. But it’s still Fourcade’s fault. How many nasty things he did on social networks, knocking down Loginov, cutting off Shipulin - he deserved such an attitude. I hope our people will do it again and win medals - it will be the best gift!” - noted a fan of the national team.
Another called for the entire French team to be punished for such antics. “Because of his behavior, deprive the French team of medals! It would be nice if he set himself up, otherwise he’s dishonoring his own people!” — the user wrote.
Elena VAITSEKHOVSKAYA
from Hochfilzen
He just really wanted to win.
I think that all those who, over the past 24 hours, have broken down the scandalous handover of the relay race into the smallest components and come to a conclusion that is logical at first glance will sharply disagree with me: they specifically looked for him in the starting town in order to settle scores with him.
In the heat of the first seconds, it really seemed like this to us: the Frenchman runs into the ski of the debutant of the Russian team, without looking, sticks his stick somewhere back, hitting his opponent, Loginov falls - in a word, you saw it all yourself. Of course, at that moment no one knew that the coaches of the Russian national team, having reviewed the episode, would decide it was pointless to file a protest about this, and Loginov himself, who met me in the corridor, would answer evasively: “I don’t know if it was intentional. I can’t say ".
But I’m not even talking about that now. Twenty-five years ago, while still very young, he told me, talking about big-time sports, that he considered this activity a completely legalized manifestation of far from the best human qualities. For example, selfishness. Its quintessence, so to speak. Because any athlete who claims to win does not care at all about the fact that someone else wants to achieve this victory besides him.
If we start from this phrase in our discussions about Hochfilzen’s first start, it becomes absolutely clear not only Fourcade’s behavior in the relay race, but also his reaction, for example, to actually leaving his personal trainer for the Norwegians. Martin is an egoist to the core, sincerely convinced that the biathlon universe must revolve only around him. But this, you see, is not a crime.
At the same time, the Frenchman is an outstanding athlete. These differ from others not only in their ability to run faster and shoot more accurately. But also the ability to instantly assess any situation and make the most optimal decisions in it. Over the past 24 hours, the scene of the “collision” between Fourcade and Loginov at the turn of the third and fourth stages was shown to us from all possible angles, except for one: we did not see it through the eyes of the main character. What could a ten-time world champion and two-time Olympic champion think about at the moment he received the baton from the man who earned the team a penalty loop? About Loginov? Come on! Loginov at that time was just an unnecessary and completely uninteresting obstacle for him - besides those who were running ahead. Why didn’t Fourcade rush forward immediately after receiving the baton? Perhaps precisely because he wanted to assess the situation as well as possible and choose the most rational strategy: not to get into trouble, not to break a stick, not to run into penalties.
I am not making excuses for the Frenchman now. Rather, in some way I’m trying to get into the skin of a person who doesn’t care about anyone and who wants to be the first at any cost.
One can, of course, rely on the already established version that the main thing for Fourcade was personal revenge. Well, approximately, as it was in 2006 in the case of , who, with their suddenly escalated vendetta, deprived their country of completely real football gold. The situation with Loginov, in my understanding, does not lend itself to this - despite all the “sins” of the Russian athlete. And it’s even more pointless to look for crime in Fourcade’s actions in the final circle of the fight against: the one who runs ahead is always right.
A year ago, after winning the pursuit race at the World Cup in Antholz, Anton said about Fourcade:
He generally loves all sorts of games with rivals on the ski track. He constantly comes up with some tricks, and I even wonder: what else don’t I know about him? Some people start attacking in their favorite places, others like to sit behind them and cough, making it clear that they are close, but at the same time not coming forward.
Shipulin, like no one else, should have known that it was pointless to expect any kind of gentlemanliness from Fourcade in the finishing showdown. I suspect that Anton did not expect it. Simply losing to an opponent at the finish line is quite a humiliating thing, exacerbating the already high intensity of emotions. Everything that happened next was just a consequence: comments made to the camera in the starting town, confrontation with the Frenchman on the podium, verbosity at the press conference, and since the translation of Shipulin’s heated speech turned out to be too primitive and superficial, Fourcade, sincerely perplexed, asked again, addressing Anton over the heads of the four German champions sitting in the center of the table: “What did I do that you’re telling me all this now?”
Perhaps the Frenchman continued to play with his opponent at that moment, internally enjoying the fact that he had pissed him off: this happens to egoists. Perhaps he, like Shipulin, also did not immediately manage to extinguish the emotions raging after the race - hence the expansive attempt to leave the podium.
I don't think it makes sense to keep blowing this whole thing out of proportion. Common sense, as Shipulin actually said when leaving the press conference, boils down to the fact that he and Martin just need to shake hands and no longer stoop to insults. After all, no matter how you look at it, biathlon is one family.
Unfortunately, sometimes this happens in families: they get together and... ruin the holiday for the birthday boy. Although, I believe that the Germans, who won their first victory in the mixed relay in the last seven years, were happy even though they were not asked a single question at the press conference.
“A collision on the track, a provocative gesture at the finish line and strong wind on the podium. The Biathlon World Championships, which opened on Thursday in Hochfilzen, became part of a new confrontation between Martin Fourcade and his opponents from Russia. The French finished the mixed relay in second place, behind the Germans.
But the consolation was that they were ahead of the Russians, with whom they have a terrible relationship due to doping allegations at the Sochi Olympics.<…>Two-time Olympic champion, ten-time world champion and five-time winner of the Big Crystal Globe Martin Fourcade will still have the opportunity to meet his Russian friends at the next competitions, which will continue until February 19. Spectacle guaranteed!
“We knew that Fourcade had a grudge against the Russians. Now the whole world knows. Tensions between the Russians and the French reached a new level after the mixed relay at the World Championships in Hochfilzen: the Russians refused to shake Fourcade's hand and he left the podium when the Russian team stood up to receive their bronze medals.
Russian athletes have criticized Fourcade's allegedly unsportsmanlike gesture against Alexander Loginov, who returned two years after a doping-related ban. When passing the baton between the third and fourth stages, Fourcade crossed the track in front of Loginov, who finished, which led to the fall of the Russian athlete.”
“On the podium, Fourcade pointedly ignored the Russians, and then applauded them with irony. Previously, he expressed the idea of boycotting the World Cup if his rivals from Russia, accused of the existence of a state doping system, were admitted.”
“Martin Fourcade made clear his dissatisfaction with the presence of Russian biathletes, who, following the results of the race, rose to the third step of the podium, but at the same time have been at the very center of the controversy caused by the doping problem in their country for several months.
In the fight for clean sport, the two-time Olympic champion in Sochi was supported by cyclist Romain Bardet. “In word and deed. An excellent performance, but the convictions of an extraordinary athlete are especially valuable,” Bardet, who came second in the last Tour de France, wrote on his Twitter microblog.
“A police raid on the hotel where the Kazakhstan team was staying, great tension between Martin Fourcade and the Russians due to suspicions and settling old scores: doping problems hang over the Biathlon World Championships, which started on Thursday in Hochfilzen in a bad atmosphere. Both cases are negative for the International Biathlon Union, which is under pressure after revelations from the McLaren report exposed the state doping system in Russia. The report accused 31 biathletes of doping.
Under pressure from biathletes who accused the IBU of being too soft, including Fourcade, the International Biathlon Union decided on Wednesday to create a working group to tighten penalties for doping. In addition, Russia was deprived of the right to host the Biathlon World Championships, which was originally scheduled to be held in Tyumen in 2021.”
“It’s not an open secret - Martin Fourcade doesn’t like lies. The use of doping by some Russian athletes discussed in the McLaren report (for example, Alexander Loginov, who has already been disqualified for two years) cannot be supported by him. This was confirmed on the podium.
At the moment when the Russians were called to the podium, Martin Fourcade ironically applauded them, having previously descended from the podium so as not to be photographed with them, after Anton Shipulin refused to shake the French athlete’s hand. The Frenchman eventually returned to the podium to avoid disqualification. The footage shows that during the race, Fourcade caught Loginov during the transfer of the baton, which led to the fall of the Russian athlete.”
Vyacheslav Sambur got through to the head of biathlon rules - Vadim Melikhov. And he explained everything.
Martin Fourcade put on another show: in the last race of the season - the Holmenkollen mass start - he went to the start with empty clips, and at the first stage the French coach threw him a spare magazine.
According to the rules, any contact between a biathlete and a coach during a race is prohibited - an asterisk immediately appeared next to Fourcade’s last name. At the second shooting, the Frenchman received three more clips, but, as expected, from the referee. And this was just acceptable.
Later it turned out that at the turn - during Fourcade's accident - there was no referee who could feed the clip to Martin.
To understand the intricacies of the episode, Vyacheslav Sambur called the race director of the Russian biathlon Vadim Melikhov.
Here they are, two episodes:
a) Marten receives a clip from the coach, which is not allowed:
b) Martin receives clips from the judges:
Why wasn't Fourcade disqualified?
The competition jury announced that it was not the athlete who was to blame for the incident, but the organizers. There was a mistake on their part. The jury, guided by the rules, considers the specific situation along with the context.
The rules say: before the start, the judges must check whether the biathlete has enough ammunition for the race. It is not the responsibility of the athlete or coach to check. If there are not enough cartridges, the judges are obliged to inform him about it.
This check is carried out no later than two minutes before the start. This is called final control. In addition to cartridges, the availability of numbers and markings is checked.
Most likely, the number of cartridges Fourcade had was not clearly checked before the start.
Is it true that an athlete at the line can only receive ammunition through a judge?
Yes, those are the rules. Formally, they are violated. Another question is why? Because there were no judges next to the coaches. Accordingly, this particular situation is considered: when there are no judges nearby.
In addition, there is an installation: in any borderline situation, the decision must be made in favor of the athlete. It doesn’t matter whether it’s Fourcade or not, the athlete is always the main character.
So, maybe the coaches were obliged to wait for the judge and pass the cartridges through him?
That's the whole point. Maybe we should have waited. But we are people - the machine works faster: we need to urgently provide help. You could have waited - probably this time would have been recorded and then subtracted.
It was not Fourcade who broke the rules, it was the mistake of a specific coach. Fourcade did everything according to the rules: he raised his hand and said the word “ammunition.” From this moment on, nothing depends on him - the judges and coaches must act. The coach must find the referee and pass the cartridges through him. But he didn’t find the judge - and had to throw the cartridges directly to Fourcade. Fourcade is definitely not to blame for this.
And the fact that there was no judge nearby was a mistake by the organizers. Stupid mistake.
The rules say: in case of loss of ammunition, the athlete has the right to receive ammunition at the shooting range through the judge. I’ll say it again: formally the rules have been violated. But a specific situation with context is considered.
The only possible punishment here is a reprimand to the coach. But if there was a real problem with the organization, then they can do without it.
What did Fourcade say?
On air on Norwegian NRK and Match TV:
– I forgot to load the magazines. When I arrived at the first milestone, I discovered this.
- We talked to your brother, and he said that he usually makes mistakes, but this time it happened to you...
- Yes, it’s only me who is to blame for this. You know, this is a game, this is biathlon. The most important thing is what I showed on the track. I shot without misses and lost 20 seconds on the first line. Despite this, I left the last shooting with a 17 second lead. I think it's important to respect the rules, and I'm the first to advocate that. But today, I think, sport speaks, and I hope that the jury will respect this. I didn't do anything dangerous.
I'm a little ashamed because when I was 15 years old, I made the same mistake. When I took the clip in my hand, I didn’t even have to look, because I knew that it was empty.
– The jury still retained the victory for you.
– Our jury is wonderful. I am very glad. I can understand disqualification if safety rules are violated, but I know that I did not violate such rules today. I would be very disappointed if I lost a win because of stupid rules. I already lost a lot of time because of this incident. I am very glad that the jury took my mental retardation into account and decided to let me win.
Photo: /NTB Scanpix/Hakon Mosvold Larsen, NTB Scanpix/Heiko Junge
Do you respect me?
It immediately exploded at the Biathlon World Championships. First - at . And then, as expected, our team, in collaboration with Martin Fourcade. And it couldn’t help but jerk. Living people, and the atmosphere was filled with all sorts of different things, which I would like to avoid altogether. Someone had to snap. The strongest fell - Anton Shipulin.
Martin Fourcade, of course, provoked it - willingly or unwillingly, we can no longer understand. First, Alexander fell, but, however, he did not blame anyone in hot pursuit.
“It’s difficult to say what happened during the handover of the relay; you’ll have to watch the replay because everything happened very quickly. Well, he fell and fell. If Fourcade pushed me, then let it remain on his conscience. I don't pay attention to it. My job is to run and give results” (Honestly, I watched it several times, everything really happened very quickly, it’s difficult to judge).
Then Martin Fourcade changed lanes before the finish, thereby slowing down Shipulin’s pace. The usually diplomatic Anton expressed his emotions immediately after the race:
“After this race, I lost respect for Fourcade - from a human point of view. At the finish line he behaved ugly. It was clear that he deliberately blocked me in the corridor, I don’t know if this is fair? They told me about the situation with Loginov at the finish line.”
While everyone was wondering what the Frenchman would do on the podium, especially after the apology that Fourcade managed to convey for cutting off Loginov, our team decided to take revenge. You know, there is a very fine line between protecting your own and the desire to respond at all costs.
It ended with our guys not shaking Fourcade’s hand. Now we will not know whether Martin himself intended to do this.
Now we will split into parts again: one will think that Fourcade was not given the right hand, the other will think that this should not have been done, now we will lose more than we find. I relate to the second part.
We wanted the best, but it turned out as always. Here are the words Anton Shipulin said when explaining the situation. “Today was a team race. We took this bronze medal together. Each member of our team is part of the family. -When one of our team members is not treated very well, it is not nice for the whole team. In this case, I’m talking about Fourcade’s attitude towards Loginov. An athlete should run, perform and show results, and not engage in politics. This applies to Fourcade. We must fight honestly on the track, and keep our statements and behavior to ourselves.”
Good words. It's like that. But the last phrase also applies to us.
The Russian delegation did not file a protest against the actions of Martin Fourcade and dispute the results of the mixed relay. After watching the video, the national team coaches were convinced that Fourcade had not committed an obvious violation. Grimaces? It is not prohibited, everything else is within the permissible limits. Which means our nerves simply couldn’t stand it. It's clear why. To be honest, some people want to punch them in the face even from afar.
But - it’s impossible. We have no right to such disruptions. The biathlon world will not be on our side. The Ethics Committee, which was recently approached by RBU President Kravtsov with a request to evaluate all sorts of caustic words from the leader of the world biathlon towards Loginov, who returned from disqualification, will clearly deal with this situation. Fourcade was returned to the pedestal, from which, after Shipulin and Loginov ignored his hand, the Frenchman tried to leave before the ceremony, the President of the International Biathlon Union Besseberg.
An ordinary, in principle, collision on the highway, to which no one would have paid much attention if not for all the pre-start showdowns, will now turn into a political action. And again against us. Because Fourcade will look like a fighter against doping, and the Russians will look against Fourcade. And this means we defend doping. And it is this line that comes to the fore.
“I think I am respected by the majority of representatives of our sport. Today on the track I did everything I could. If people oppose me because of my fight against doping, that's their right."
That's what Fourcade said. And so it began. And it was picked up.
“I understand Fourcade’s behavior. He acts bravely by openly saying “no” to doping. In fact, it’s very difficult to express claims face to face, I’m not sure I could. Obviously, this behavior of Fourcade produced results. The Russians got nervous,” this is the Olympic champion, winner and medalist of the Biathlon World Championships, Swede Bjorn Ferry.
“The story received wide resonance in France. Most people support Fourcade, but many consider his departure from the awards ceremony to be wrong. I probably would have done the same thing and regretted it later. It wasn't pretty. Martin probably feels alone in the fight against doping. We don't want biathlon to become like cycling, where they talk more about doping than about the sport itself. However, Martin cannot win this battle alone,” and this is already four-time World Cup winner, eight-time world champion, three-time Olympic medalist Raphael Poiret.
… “We are a proud nation. If someone comes at us with war, then we stand until the end.” Shipulin said this. And it is absurd to disagree with such words. There is no point in starting a war ourselves. For the first time in many years, Russia won a medal in the mixed relay at the World Championships. It's incredibly unfortunate that everything turned out like this. The whole championship is ahead. We need to calm down. We have a good team. And this team must endure. And not just fighting with seconds.
SBR board member Vadim Melikhov:
“Fourcade changed his trajectory in front of Shipulin to the 50-meter zone. This is why the zone is marked with Christmas trees: there the athlete occupies any track and has no right to leave it, creating interference for others. There was no violation of the rules in Fourcade's actions. Are his actions fair from a human point of view? That's another question. What did Anton want from Fourcade? The Frenchman fought according to the rules and took a position that was comfortable for himself. As in driving: the one behind is always to blame. Whoever is in front turns on the turn signal and moves to the side. Fourcade walked ahead."
President of the French Ski Federation Michel Vion:
“I asked Martin not to speak out on this topic on social networks anymore. And last night (before the start. - Ed.) he assured me that he would not allow himself to do this again. However, today this story has again become the focus of attention, and it has come to the point that relations between Russia and France began to be compared to the Cold War. But there is no reason for this. We decided to talk to Martin again so that he would not waste his energy on “biting” Russian biathletes, but would focus on winning gold medals. We will ask Martin to meet Shipulin in training so that they can shake hands like men. There's no reason not to do this. I spoke with the coach of the Russian team, Ricco Gross, whom I have known for a long time. We recognized that we needed to cool the situation."
Olympic champion Vladimir Barnashov:
“Marten did not act in a sportsmanlike manner. The Frenchman had to reach the finish line and prove there that he was stronger; he also crossed the path of Shipulin, who occupied the left edge. But he didn’t break the rules - if they were already in the “corridor”, then they could have filed an appeal, and Fourcade would have been disqualified.”
Simon Fourcade:
“The best solution to a problem is that you apologize first. Congratulations to the German team, who didn't deserve all this fuss."
IBU message to fans:
“We would like to remind and encourage everyone to maintain a respectful tone when communicating with each other and in all comments on all IBU social media channels. There is nothing wrong with discussing or expressing agreement and disagreement on various issues. But we do not want and cannot allow insults and derogatory comments to be or become the norm in communication..."
