French star Fourcade and Koukalová of the Czech Republic were both critical of athletes who had committed doping violations during their careers. 

Koukalová voiced her support for the ban of Russian athletes at the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games, while Fourcade, a five-time Olympic champion, walked off the podium at the 2017 Biathlon World Championships as the Russian mixed relay team received their bronze medal. 

He had a long-running spat with Russia's Alexander Loginov, who served a two-year ban between 2014 and 2016 after a positive test for EPO.

Following the retirement of both Fourcade and Koukalova this year, Bø revealed he would now take on the responsibility of being vocal about doping. 

"It is important to have people who take a stand," he said in an interview with Dagbladet. 

"Until now, I think those you mention have done a great job for our sport and when they have stepped aside, it is new faces that must take responsibility. 

"I feel that responsibility is becoming more and more natural for me as I get older and more routine I have, so I am definitely looking forward to being able to say things a little more from the liver going forward than I may have done before."

The 27-year-old Bø has triumphed in the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Cup for the past two seasons, with his record of 48 individual World Cup victories making him the third most successful male biathlete of all time. 

He earned Olympic gold in the men's 20 kilometres individual race at Pyeongchang 2018, where he also took silver in the mixed and men's relays. 

Doping has been prevalent in biathlon, particularly among Russian athletes.

In February, Evgeny Ustyugov was banned for two years and was stripped of his Sochi 2014 Olympic gold medal due to tests dating back to 2013, while Loginov had his room raided by Italian police following a request from the IBU. 

Russia had 10 positive tests by biathletes between 2011 and 2015 that were covered up, according to the McLaren Report.

The Russian Biathlon Union (RBU) was demoted to provisional membership of the IBU in December 2017 in response to the country's doping scandal and owes the IBU at least €350,000 (£313,000/$395,000).

Earlier this month, RBU President Viktor Maigurov claimed most of the debt had been paid off.