MOSCOW, November 26. /TASS/. /TASS/. The Appeals Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland has rejected Russian biathlete Yevgeny Ustyugov’s appeal not to strip him of the two medals he won at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada, the press office of the Biathlon Integrity Unit (BIU) announced in a statement on Tuesday.

"The Biathlon Integrity Unit (BIU) and the International Biathlon Union (IBU) welcome the decision issued by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in the Biological Passport case of former athlete Yevgeny Ustyugov," the statement reads. "The CAS Appeals Division has upheld the findings of the Anti-Doping Division (ADD) of CAS, which determined that Ustyugov committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) based on anomalies identified in his Athlete Biological Passport (ABP)."

"Following this finding, Ustyugov has been sanctioned with a four-year period of ineligibility. Additionally, all competitive results achieved by Mr Ustyugov between 24 January 2010, and his retirement at end of the 2013/2014 season are invalidated, including any associated medals, points and prizes," according to the BIU.

"This includes results achieved at the Olympic Winter Games Vancouver 2010, where he had been awarded the gold medal in the mass start and the bronze in the men’s relay," the statement added.

According to the BIU’s information on its official website, "The Biathlon Integrity Unit is an operationally independent and specialized unit of the International Biathlon Union. It was established in order to ensure all of Biathlon’s stakeholders can have confidence that ethical issues in the sport will be addressed independently and expertly."

"The Biathlon Integrity Unit handles all integrity-related matters in Biathlon, including anti-doping, ethical breaches and safeguarding issues, betting-related issues and any kind of competition manipulation/match-fixing."

IBU’s sanctions against Russia, Belarus

In late March 2022, the Executive Board of the International Biathlon Union announced the suspension of member sports federations Russia and Belarus. The press office of the world’s governing body of biathlon announced to TASS at that time that biathlon skiers representing Russia and Belarus would have no right to apply to participate in competitions organized by the International Biathlon Union.

On February 28, 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued recommendations to international sports federations to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from taking part in international tournaments, citing Moscow’s special military operation in Ukraine as the reason.

Following the IOC’s recommendations in late February 2022, the majority of global sports federations decided to bar athletes from Russia and Belarus from all international sports tournaments.

However, in late March 2023, the IOC recommended to permit individual athletes from Russia and Belarus to take part in international sports tournaments, but only under certain conditions. Specifically, athletes from the two countries should not be "actively supporting" Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine and must compete under a neutral status.

Following the publication of the IOC recommendations, the IBU stated that it was unlikely to consider the option of returning athletes from Russia and Belarus to international competitions, despite the newly proposed norms for them.