Following top star Julia Simon's credit card fraud, a new scandal has rocked the French national women's biathlon team: Jeanne Richard is suspected of having tampered with a teammate's rifle.
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- French biathlete Jeanne Richard is suspected of having tampered with the rifle of her teammate Océane Michelon. Olympic champion Justine Braisaz-Bouchet is said to have observed her doing so.
- Richard denies the allegations, but was briefly excluded from the team; the French federation is investigating internally without yet initiating official proceedings.
- The incident is one in a series of scandals in the French biathlon team, most recently Julia Simon was convicted of credit card fraud.
According to reports from the French portals "Dicodusport" and "Le Dauphiné", Jeanne Richard is said to have secretly tampered with her colleague Océane Michelon's weapon. Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, Olympic champion and teammate, observed the scene and caught Richard in the act. What exactly was changed and whether anything was changed at all is still unclear - official confirmation as to whether the manipulation actually affected the functionality or accuracy of the rifle is still missing.
Former biathlete Björn Ferry is shocked by the accusations: "This is one of the meanest things you can do. It's like a cross-country skier smearing glue on his skis or unscrewing a binding. Tampering with a competitor's equipment is very mean. If you do something like that to a team member, I find it hard to understand how you can still be part of a national team," the Olympic champion told the Swedish broadcaster "SVT" (via tag24).
Richard denies allegations, but was briefly suspended
Richard himself vehemently denies the accusations. The French federation Fédération Française de Ski (FFS) has taken up the case internally, but has not yet initiated any official disciplinary proceedings. There is speculation in the media that the incident has so far been kept under wraps internally so as not to disrupt preparations for the season.
Richard came fourth in the mass start at the 2025 World Championships in Lenzerheide. At the start of summer preparations this year, the 23-year-old athlete was briefly ruled out - possibly as a consequence of the rifle incident - but recently returned to the start.
In the last World Cup season, she wore the blue jersey of the World Cup leader under 23 for a long time. After a botched weekend at the end of the season in Oslo, she had to relinquish it in the last race - to her team-mate Océane Michelon, of all people, whose weapon she is alleged to have tampered with.
France's women's biathlon team has been making headlines for some time now, with the Julia Simon credit card scandal rocking the country just a few weeks ago. She had used stolen credit cards belonging to her teammate Justine Braisaz-Bouchet to purchase goods worth 2,500 euros on the internet and confessed to the crime in court. Ten-time biathlon world champion Simon was banned for a month by the French federation.
As a neutral observer, it would definitely be exciting to attend the French biathlon team's Christmas dinner together - there would certainly be plenty to talk about.
