Sweden’s biathlon masters plan double bronze party



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2010 Vancouver Olympics: Fredrik Lindström, Carl Johan Bergman, Mattias Nilsson and Björn Ferry run in four behind Norway, Austria and Russia in the biathlon relay.

World Cup 2011 in Chanty-Mansiysk: Lindström, Magnus Jonsson, Bergman and Ferry will again be within four, just four seconds behind bronze when Norway, Russia and Ukraine are on the podium.

Nineteen years later you can change the list of results.

Samples saved from former Russian star Yevgeny Ustyugov show that the Russian, according to the Cas sports arbitration court, has been helped to manipulate his blood values.

Ustjugov will be retroactively suspended between 2010 and 2014 and will be deprived of all medals during these years. Including: the double relay medals.

If the verdict stands, it means Swedish double bronze.

– But you still don’t want to shout hello, says former Swedish biathlon star Björn Ferry when DN contacts him by phone.

– They can appeal to a civil court in Switzerland and I suppose they do. Only when you have the medals in your fist can you celebrate in a big way.

Ustjugov has three weeks to appeal.

– Now there are many who get in touch and congratulate, but it will be as a means thank you.

Carl Johan Bergman in the 2010 Olympic relay.

Carl Johan Bergman in the 2010 Olympic relay.

Photograph: Nils Jakobsson / Bildbyrån

That several years It’s gratifying to re-analyze old samples, says Ferry, who among other things also has a 2010 individual Olympic gold.

– It is very important, it is absolutely crucial.

– They started saving samples in 2009, then they felt like “yeah, no one is safe now”. Who dares to cheat if five, ten or 15 years later a new method comes to mind and can then analyze it?

Ferry continues:

– At the same time, it will be a total soup if you have to hand out medals 10-15 years in hindsight, destroy confidence in the sport.

Ferry traveled the final distances in both the 2010 Olympics and the 2011 World Cup.

– In hindsight, I am happy to have hit the iron in the final round to beat Germany (fifth), he says about the Olympic relay.

And the World Cup relay?

– The World Cup in Russia is a trauma for me! After the last battle, I think I’ll be fifth. I hadn’t realized that Italy was shooting a penalty round … But then it turns out that I started fourth and I didn’t even try to pass Ukraine (third), it still bothers me today.

Mattias Nilsson, now coach of the national team, can get his first championship medal: a 2010 Olympic bronze in relay.

Mattias Nilsson, now coach of the national team, can get his first championship medal: a 2010 Olympic bronze in relay.

Photograph: Nils Jakobsson / Bildbyrån

That now – maybe – getting medals later would be a form of restoration, says the 42-year-old.

– Mattias Nilsson doesn’t have a championship medal and neither does Magnus Jonsson. This is very important to them. We have always felt throughout all the years that we have been deceived with a series of medals. So it doesn’t feel more than correct that it is also correct in the end.

The former Swedish biathletes were heard yesterday in text messages and Ferry has also had contact with biathlon profile Wolfgang Pichler, a former Swedish coach, who is currently recovering from a heart attack.

– I hope we can have a party and get everyone together when it’s ready, says Ferry.

– You are still starting to plan some kind of Skype party or similar. Wolfgang thought we should have a “great party”.

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