The president of the International Biathlon Union told the police that the young woman who had come to his hotel in Moscow was a prostitute, but he was hazy on the details. He did not remember the date or even who had paid for her services, he said, but it had assuredly not been him.
The president, Anders Besseberg, had led biathlon’s governing body for more than two decades by then, and he was accustomed to receiving gifts from his Russian hosts. Like a chocolate on his pillow or a gift bag placed on a chair in his hotel room, the company of a young woman during a trip to a World Cup biathlon event was not uncommon.