The decision to reduce the distance of the men's mass start at the Beijing Olympics was not made taking into account the interests of the Norwegian Johannes Klebo, said the racing director of the International Ski Federation (FIS) Pierre Minieri. The sports official's words are quoted by NRK.
“It was definitely not the result of pressure from Norway or anyone else. We do not need to be pressured to follow the weather forecast and act on the basis of the situation,” Minieri said.
According to him, when making a decision, the organizers consulted with the teams, including the president of the Russian Ski Racing Federation, Elena Vyalbe.
The mass start at the Beijing Games was shortened from 50 to 28.4 km due to frost and strong winds. The head coach of the Russian national team, Yuri Borodavko, expressed dissatisfaction with this decision, saying that by reducing the distance, "the chances for those athletes who are not distance athletes increase, that is, in favor of Klebo."
The Finnish skier complained that he froze his genitals at the Olympic race. The 2022 Olympics Klebo withdrew during the race, and after returning to Norway, he said that the decision on the distance "was made by the FIS and no one else." "Nossum and other leaders probably contributed, but I don't know what they said," Klebo said.
Russian Alexander Bolshunov became the winner of the marathon, Ivan Yakimushkin took the second place.
bbabo.Net