December 24, 2016 – Dear President Bach, President Kasper, members of the IOC Executive Board, and members of the FIS Council, We find the handling of the evidence of state-sponsored systematic doping named in the McLaren report and other doping violations surrounding the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics to have been disturbingly lenient across multiple sports. This has damaged the credibility of what it means to be an Olympic athlete. We believe that this lenience is not befitting to an organization such as the IOC which should be working to clean up sport.

We are also concerned with some of the comments coming from FIS leadership regarding doping in our sport.  We would like to request an open meeting with President Kasper at the FIS World Ski Championships in Lahti in February 2017 to discuss the future of clean sport.

We believe a soft-handed approach to anti-doping is allowing cheating to persist in our sport. We request stronger leadership by both the FIS and IOC to be dedicated to clean sport.

Thus, we, the undersigned athletes of the Cross Country World Cup support the following statements:

– We deserve the right to compete on a doping-free playing field, and request stronger leadership from the FIS, IOC and WADA to accomplish this.
– We support a stronger, independent World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), with the power and autonomy to impose meaningful sanctions on the signatories to the WADA code in the case of their non-compliance.
– We expect strict, swift, consistent and transparent sanctions for any signatories to the WADA code who violate the code.
– We will not intentionally violate the WADA CODE, and support all measures to uphold it.

These statements have been drafted by an international committee consisting of World Cup athletes from eight nations.

Signed,

Alex Harvey (CAN)
Bob Thompson (CAN)
Tim Puiras (CAN)
Devon Kershaw (CAN)
Emily Nishikawa (CAN)
Cendrine Browne (CAN)
Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt (CAN)
Maya Macisaac- Jones (CAN)
Julien Locke (CAN)
Timothy Smith (CAN)
Sam Greer (CAN)
Knute Johnsgaard (CAN)
Dahria Beatty (CAN)
Lenny Valjas (CAN)
Graeme Killick (CAN)
Laurien Van Der Graaff (CH)
Nadine Faehndrich (CH)
Heidi Widmer (CH)
Hannes Dotzler (DE)
Sebastian Eisenlauer (DE)
Sandra Ringwald (DE)
Thomas Wick (DE)
Stephanie Boehler (DE)
Florian Notz (DE)
Victoria Carl (DE)
Valentin Maettig (DE)
Hanna Kolb (DE)
Thomas Bing (DE)
Jonas Dobler (DE)
Nicole Fessel (DE)
Katharina Hennig (DE)
Sofie Krehl (DE)
Julia Regleb (DE)
Aino-Kaisa Saarinen (FI)
Sami Jauhojärvi (FI)
Martti Jylha (FI)
Ristomatti Hakola (FI)
Lari Lehtonen (FI)
Krista Pärmakoski (FI)
Perttu Hyvarinen (FI)
Jean-Marc Gaillard (FR)
Maurice Magnificat (FR)
Clement Parisse (FR)
Clement Arnault (FR)
Robin Dullivard (FR)
Paul Goalabre (FR)
Baptiste Gros (FR)
Lucas Chanavat (FR)
Coraline Hugue (FR)
Virginia De Martin (IT)
Greta Laurent (IT)
Federico Pellegrino (IT)
Lucia Scardoni (IT)
Ilenia Defrancesco (IT)
Elisa Brocard (IT)
Francesco De Fabiani (IT)
Gaia Vuerich (IT)
Francesca Baudin (IT)
Giulia Sturz (IT)
Ragnhild Haga (NO)
Ingvild Flugstad Østeberg (NO)
Marit Bjørgen (NO)
Maiken Caspersen Falla (NO)
Astrid Jacobsen (NO)
Eirik Brandsdal (NO)
Sindre Bjørnestad Skar (NO)
Natalia Korosteleva (RU)
Elena Soboleva (RU)
Alisa Zhambalova (RU)
Daria Vedenina (RU)
Anna Haag (SE)
Teodor Peterson (SE)
Jens Burman (SE)
Ida Ingemarsdotter (SE)
Maria Nordstrøm (SE)
Stina Nilsson (SE)
Emma Wiken (SE)
Simon Andersson (SE)
Evelina Settlin (SE)
Maja Dahlqvist (SE)
Emil Joensson (SE)
Jonna Sundling (SE)
Jennie Oberg (SE)
Daniel Rikardsson (SE)
Martin Johansson (SE)
Charlotte Kalla (SE)
Hanna Falk (SE)
Linn Somskar (SE)
Kikkan Randall (US)
Noah Hoffman (US)
Simeon Hamilton (US)
Sophie Caldwell (US)
Ida Sargent (US)
Elizabeth Stephen (US)
Kris Freeman (US)
Caitlin Patterson (US)
Sadie Bjornsen (US)
Eric Packer (US)
Rosie Brennan (US)
Jessie Diggins (US)
Andrew Newell (US)