MOSCOW, January 10, Svetlana Bonopartova. Former President of the Union Russian biathletes (RBR), four-time Olympic champion Alexander Tikhonov, said that Norwegian Anders Besseberg deserves only shame and prison for his actions while working as head of the International Biathlon Union (IBU).
Besseberg headed the IBU from 1993 to 2018. Tikhonov was the first vice-president of the IBU from 2002 to 2009, and headed the RBU from 1996 to 2008. Besseberg's trial began on Tuesday. He is accused of corruption. At the trial, Besseberg stated that Tikhonov tried to bribe him and also created many problems for the IBU with his unethical behavior.
“I don’t like behind-the-scenes games, all his words are lies. When I left the post of first vice-president, I said from the podium that Besseberg would face shame and prison for his drunkenness, debauchery and everything else. The entire biathlon world knows about this. Besseberg always paid for prostitutes and all alcohol only with an IBU card. The test showed this. The financial costs were very serious,” Tikhonov said.
“”I'll tell you one case. I agreed with serious sponsors, a delegation arrived with ready-made documents for 30 million euros a year. It was just a gift of fate! Knowing Besseberg, I sat until half past one in the night in the corridor near his room so that he would not do anything. But as soon as I went to bed, he invited two prostitutes into the room. At 10 am we are waiting, he is still not there. About half an hour later he comes out with his fly unzipped, his hair on end, a wild stench. Naturally, the delegation got up and left. This is only one from examples. And in Khanty-Mansiysk he didn’t even go to the closing ceremony of the season because he couldn’t get up. He needs to justify himself with something, so he tells these lies,” added the agency’s interlocutor.
Tikhonov noted that Besseberg himself highly appreciated his work, including presenting him with an award as the best president of the biathlon federation.
“” Besseberg himself appreciated my work. I accepted the Russian Biathlon Federation in a collapsed state – no medals, no World Cups, not a single shooting range of categories A and B. Already in the third year we were awarded a gold plate as the best federation among 56 countries. And I received a plaque as the best president among all national federations. This is an assessment. We were the best in the world. What other arguments could there be against Tikhonov?” – he concluded.
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