An ex-Olympian faced criticism from a biathlete fighting for Ukraine after saying Russian athletes shouldn't be banned from competing

• The former Olympic biathlete Simon Fourcade says it's wrong to ban Russian athletes from the sport.
• He said doing so is punishing people for things they are "not guilty of."

A former Olympic biathlete has come under fire after suggesting that banning Russian athletes from taking part in the sport because of the country's invasion of Ukraine is wrong.

The International Biathlon Union (IBU) suspended the Russian Biathlon Union (RBU), as well as the Biathlon Federation of Belarus (BiFB), last week, saying the two nations had "violated the humanitarian obligations for member federations."

Responding to the news, Simon Fourcade, who competed for France at the 2006, 2010, and 2014 Winter Olympics, told Russian state media outlet Match TV that by banning Russian and Belarusian athletes, the IBU was punishing people for things they are "not guilty of."

The 37-year-old also highlighted that the organization, and other sporting governing bodies across the world, have not previously punished athletes from other nations or their country's actions.

"Look at China, where the issue of Uyghurs is acute. Nevertheless, they had the Olympic Games," he said. "Why didn't the IOC open its mouth about this?

"Human rights are not respected in Qatar, which became the next host country of the World Cup. Yes, people are dying in Ukraine now. But they die in both Syria and Yemen. Why hasn't the IBU made such decisions before? If you act like this in relation to Russia, you do so in relation to everyone else."

"We are all friends. We are a biathlon family," he added.

Fourcade's comments prompted furious backlash from Ukrainian biathlete Dmytro Pidruchnyi, who is currently fighting in the Ukrainian army.

"First of all, Martin and Simon, fuck you," wrote Pidruchnyi on Instagram on Saturday. The Martin referred to is Simon Fourcade's older brother, a five-time Olympic gold medalist and one of the greatest biathletes in history.

Martin Fourcade had not, at the time of Pidruchnyi's post, publicly commented on whether Russian athletes should be able to compete.

"I hope your children will never feel the pain that Ukrainian children have suffered. Children who left their houses, who felt the sound of explosions, who saw their mothers screaming and their children being killed."

He continued: "Since the beginning of the war, only one Russian athlete has written to me to tell me that he is ashamed of what his country is doing, but that he is afraid for him and his family and therefore does not express his public support.

"For me, the silence of the Russian and Belarusian athletes means that they have made their choice to support the war. I do not regret at all that they are not present at any international competition."

Pidruchnyi went on to say he regrets voting for Martin Fourcade in a recent election for membership of the Athletes' Commission of the International Olympic Committee, and called both men "shitty people."

Both Fourcade brothers have since hit back at Pidruchnyi.

Commenting on Pidruchnyi's post, Martin Fourcade wrote: "I understand your anger and sadness but don't allow you to insult someone because you disagree with what their brother said!

"In case you missed it, my name is Martin and I haven't given an interview lately."

The comment appears to have been since deleted.

Simon Fourcade later defended himself on his Instagram, saying that he stands by his statement that it is unfair to exclude Russian athletes from competition, but adding that he does not support the war or Russia in any way.

"I DO NOT SUPPORT WAR AND I DO NOT SUPPORT RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT!" — he wrote.

"Yes, I said that I do not support this decision of exclude Russian athletes from international competitions because I think it's totally counterproductive and a big hypocrisy."

"Majority of Russian athletes are against war but the fact is that they can not say it!"