CAS banned the former head of the IBU from holding sports positions in biathlon for life.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has ruled to ban for life the former president of the International Biathlon Union (IBU), 78-year-old Norwegian Anders Besseberg from holding any sports positions in biathlon. This was announced on March 14 by the press service of the Biathlon Integrity Unit (BIU), an independent body for monitoring compliance with rules in the field of governance, transparency and anti-doping in biathlon.

"Given the seriousness of the violations and Besseberg's lack of remorse, the CAS board has imposed a lifetime ban on all official positions in biathlon," the website says.

In addition, the statement stated that Besseberg behaved unethically in his position, and also received illegal gifts and benefits. At the same time, BIU head Greg McKenna clarified that unethical behavior in sports will continue to be suppressed.

Anders Besseberg was the founder of IBU and led the organization from 1973 to 2018. In 2018, the Norwegian had to resign from his post due to numerous suspicions of corruption. Besseberg was accused of receiving about 300 thousand euros. It was believed that he could have received most of these funds from the Russian Federation, as he allegedly closed athletes' doping cases and transmitted information about problems with blood passports to the Russian side.

In January 2021, the IBU commission found Besseberg guilty of concealing the doping samples of biathletes from the Russian Federation. Besseberg and former union secretary general Nicole Resch found themselves at the center of a scandal in 2018. Then the investigators came to Austria to perform at the Biathlon World Cup. They notified a number of Russian athletes about the investigation due to possible violations of anti-doping rules. The reason for the suspicion was the correspondence between Besseberg and Resch.

In April 2024, the former president of the union was sentenced to three years and one month in prison in a corruption case. It was noted that he was found guilty on nine counts out of 10. $1.41 million was also confiscated from him. The court found the functionary guilty of accepting bribes and participating in exclusive hunting trips to Russia, Austria and the Czech Republic, which were financed through corruption.