– Fytti katta! It’s starting to be a parody. One wonders if it is serious that we should go in now with two months left until the start of the season and not have a test device. We do not want to be a pilot project, says a clearly stated Vetle Sjåstad Christiansen to Dagbladet.
Last weekend, the International Ski Federation (FIS) and the International Biathlon Federation (IBU) were to arrange a gathering where the various nations were to test and challenge the test apparatus to be used to check skis for fluoride next season.
That gathering was postponed and now the biathlon community is beginning to lose faith that FIS and the IBU will be able to enforce the ban on fluoride that will be implemented this winter.
On Friday, the German lubrication manager, Andreas Emslander, threatened to boycott the World Cup.
The Norwegian biathletes do not come with equally strong warnings, but are still clear in their speech. The situation is not acceptable.
– It’s not lucky at all. Unless they get something in place during September, early October, I think the warning lights start flashing so that we know that it actually works, Johannes Thingnes Bø tells Dagbladet.
Dagbladet meets the biathletes at Voss during the summer NM this weekend. But the athletes have in mind the start of the season, which is only two months away.
Big brother Bø compares the problem with fluoride testing with doping.
– It’s about fair play at one end that you want the sincere winner to win. Where doping has been a threat to fair play, this will be the same problem. That people can still cheat, without being caught, if the test regime does not work and then it will be like doping, says Tarjei Bø to Dagbladet and continues:
– All sports history shows that it does not help to be naive. People have cheated in all the years it has been sports and they will continue to do so and therefore one can not be naive to say that “no, I do not think it will be a problem that people try.”
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– Can be hung out
One of the problems that is pointed out is that it has not been clarified who has the legal responsibility for a so-called “red ski” (a ski that does not pass the fluoride test). The Germans say they do not want to lubricate any skis as long as this problem is not solved, and the Norwegian athletes feel with their own lubricators.
– From before they have been hung out on a gallows stick if we have bad glide, but now they can be hung out if there is flour on the skis and then they know with themselves that they have not lubricated with it, says Thignes Bø and adds :
– Of course we sympathize with them and we are absolutely sure that they do a good job. I do not know if you saw the picture where they wash down our butter trailer, but they take all possible precautions that can be taken to avoid going on such a blister.
Little trust
Professor Matthias Scherge at the Fraunhofer Institute in Munich is leading the work of completing the test apparatus that will ensure fair competition this winter.
Scherge has not responded to Dagbladet’s inquiry about the problem before the weekend. To TV 2 the project manager claims that the progression is good.
– Next week we will run another internal test session, where we look more closely at problems such as calibration of the device. It is complicated, but the work continues with good progression, Scherge wrote in an e-mail to TV 2.
The World Cup in cross-country skiing begins on November 27 in Ruka, while the biathletes begin the World Cup season the next day in Kontiolahti.
The Norwegians have little confidence that the test apparatus will be ready for the start of the season.
– It is two months until the season begins, so it does not seem very credible that they will be ready. I think it’s a bit unprofessional on the part of the IBU. But having said that, they do their best. We understand that they also want a waterproof system, Tarjei Bø states.
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