The shock news about the doping case came six days before Anna Magnusson, Hanna Öberg, Sebastian Samuelsson and Martin Ponsiluoma were due to stand on the starting line in the first biathlon race in Antholz, Sunday's mixed relay.
"It feels very sad that the Olympics started that way," Hanna Öberg says.
The fact that someone who has tested positive for a banned substance and is suspended is still a positive, Anna Magnusson says.
"You can see it as positive that anti-doping work is working, that they are on their toes," Magnusson says.
“I feel very safe”
Biathlon previously had problems with doping, and former chairman Anders Besseberg was convicted of corruption for, among other things, helping Russians hide doping.
That's why the International Biathlon Union (IBU) formed the independent unit BIU in 2019 to handle disciplinary cases. Since then, biathlon hasn't had many doping cases. But Sebastian Samuelsson doesn't think the sport is completely spared.
"I believe that in biathlon, like all sports, doping cases sometimes occur and have historically and will probably continue to do so in the future. But I feel very confident that the anti-doping work is working well," he says.
Ponsiluoma also feels confident that he is competing against clean athletes.
"You know there will always be someone who tries to push the boundaries; that's how it always is. It was a little more so in the past, maybe when Russia was in the picture - you never knew then," he says.
Appealed to CAS
Rebecca Passler tested positive for the banned substance letrozole. In the context of sports doping, letrozole can be used to lower estrogen levels and mask anabolic steroids, which is why it is banned even though the drug itself is not directly performance-enhancing, says Åke Andrén-Sandberg, a doctor and anti-doping specialist.
Letrozole is a medicine for breast cancer and has also been used by some female athletes to lose weight.
Passler has appealed the suspension to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in the hope of being able to compete at the Olympics.
