– It is not very surprising that they do not work, but what is very surprising is that the IBU still goes for a ban on the use of fluoride. To me, it sounds completely hopeless, says news’s biathlon expert, Ola Lunde. – If the IBU continues with this, it will be “completely Texas”, says the expert. RESPONDING: Ola Lunde, news’s biathlon expert. Photo: Jørund Wessel Carlsen / news The International Biathlon Federation (IBU) wants to ban all use of dangerous fluoride products, and aims to put in place control systems that can detect cheating in the coming season. The control machines have recently undergone a number of tests both on Sjusjøen, in Bruksvallarna and in Ramsau, but the lubrication manager for the Norwegian biathlon team, Tobias Dahl Fenre, confirms to news that the tests have not gone as planned. That worries the Norwegian biathlon star Vetle Sjåstad Christiansen. – If they now take a stricter line, it is even harder for us athletes who do not have any special responsibility and for the lubricators who do an honest job, Christiansen says to news. The biathlete from Geilo is currently in Lillehammer and is well underway with the run-up to a season where the World Cup awaits in February. IBU acknowledges challenges news has been in contact with IBU, which confirms a full ban on fluoride that is harmful to health and the environment. Regarding Vetle’s concern, we can say that fair competition is our main priority, and we will make a decision that will guarantee just this, says Christian Winkler, press officer at IBU. However, the association acknowledges the challenges and points out that they will continue testing in July. A final decision on a fluoride ban will be made in August, the IBU states. The Olympic king from Beijing with four gold medals, Johannes Thingnes Bø, is not entirely happy with the situation. NOT SURPRISED: Johannes Thingnes Bø. Photo: Heiko Junge / NTB – I know that they are working hard to find something that works 100 percent. In the meantime, we can only hope and believe that all lubrication teams compete with an instinct to be the best at fluoride-free products. Then we can only wish for a fluoride device that works eventually, he says. Lubrication manager Tobias Dahl Fenre points out that there is no conflict between the nations and the IBU, but that fluoride testing has proven to be a bigger problem than expected. He believes it will be too early with a total ban already this season, and says that many of the largest nations have joined forces and submitted four points of concern to the IBU after the test sessions. – Availability on the machine is limited. There are also false positives and false negative tests that are not under control. There are also some practical issues – ie how to carry out the testing during competition, says Fenre. He points out that the false positive and negative tests are the biggest challenge. – You can test positive without having fluoride under the skis. It is in a way the worst, that one can be suspected without having fluoride under the skis. EASY TO CHEAT: The lubrication manager can confirm that it was easy to cheat in the testing. Photo: Lise Åserud / NTB Must have compared fluoride with doping The test machine failure has led to the International Ski Federation (FIS) not making any decisions on a total ban during the congress in Milan in May. Sjåstad Christiansen says that one of the arguments that the IBU has used is that fluoride can be compared to doping and that they believe that one must start somewhere to catch the cheaters. – When it comes to doping, we have signed that we have the last responsibility no matter what, that it is up to us to check everything. With skis it gets a little difficult. Should there be any positive tests, I do not think anyone believes that we are not cheating. We must find a test method for this to be fair, Christiansen says. The 30-year-old claims that the argument IBU uses is that there was a similar situation in the 90s when there was a ban on EPO (blood doping) and that it was then difficult to catch the cheaters even though it was a ban. – There were never any false positive EPO tests as far as I know, so it will be an irrelevant comparison, but they have at least used that argument. I do not buy it completely, Christiansen says. Completely hopeless job The gold winner from the Olympics is in no doubt that athletes will cheat and exploit an insecure test machine. He justifies this with the fact that there will always be cheating with large prize money and fame in winning. Ola Lunde also believes that more practitioners will take advantage of a lack of control apparatus. He believes that attempts have been made for two years without making a device work. RESPONDING: Ola Lunde, news’s biathlon expert. Photo: Jørund Wessel Carlsen / news – It is not safe enough. There are such extremely small amounts of fluoride. You should have an absolutely fantastic device. 95 pairs of skis to be tested in the World Cup. Then you must have a completely different system than now. – It is a hopeless job for the lubrication team and lubrication manager. Suddenly, a practitioner is caught with a product that may not be illegal. There is no point in saying that they have a device that works. It does not work at the moment and they have to do something about it until the winter, says Lunde.
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Full fluoride chaos – fears athletes will cheat – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcast schedule
