The letter is addressed to the Latvian Olympic Committee, the Latvian Biathlon Federation, the Latvian Ministry of Education and Science, as well as the media.
In the letter, Bendik and Wolff confirmed that they asked the LBF board to include Brici in the Olympic team as a coach and not a representative of the support staff. As the biathletes stated, their application was rejected based on the interests of other athletes. In continuation, Wolff and Bendika’s January 22 submission to LBF president Kaspars Sakniņas:
As the two leading biathletes of the Latvian national team, I Baiba Bendika and Estere Wolfa, we ask you to include our coach Ilmārs Brici in the Olympic team. We are aware that this year has been difficult and we knew that until January 18, I. Bricim would have an active disqualification, which prevented our coach from being included in the team on time. Our goal at the Olympic Games is to fight for high and very high places, which we have proven with our speed on the track and our ability to achieve high-quality results during this season as well, making the name of Latvia sound out loud even before the games start.
We are well aware of the huge experience of the coach and his ability to prepare the athletes for the main starts of the season, so it is important for us to have the coach’s presence and support in order to make the right decisions and to be able to show our total invested work on the track. Also, I.Bric has significant knowledge in the selection of our skis and we know that it was the ski service team that counted on additional help and Ilmar’s knowledge to always make the best decisions and to be able to perform a significantly larger amount of work on the days of the competition.
We ask you to consider the possibility of granting accreditation to our coach, which would give us a significant incentive for joint work and positive emotions during games.
As mentioned in the letter, LOK decided to grant Bricim accreditation on the condition that his stay at LBF is covered from its own funds.
″On January 26, 2026, the board of the Latvian Biathlon Federation suddenly decides at the board meeting that the need for the presence of Ilmārs Bričas in the Olympic Games cannot be objectively proven. We would like to draw attention to the fact that the Olympic Games are the most important competition for us this season. Our request to include our coach in the Olympic team, based on our results, is justified,” wrote Bendika and Wolff.
