Niko Talks About Personal Health and ESIC Verdict Against Him

The Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) published the outcome of its investigation into the alleged complicity of multiple Heroic players in the CS:GO coaching bug scandal, on 18^th Oct 2021. Amidst the five accused, the 23-year-old Nikolaj "niko" Kristensen was the only player who was found guilty, following his admission of being involved in the spectator bug abuse along with Nicolai "HUNDEN" Petersen.

Despite being in breach of the ESIC Code of Conduct Articles 2.4.4 and 2.4.5, niko was handed a lenient disciplinary punishment as he has ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and Asperger's Syndrome. The Danish rifler (via a Twitter thread) came forward to speak about both, his personal health and the sanctions levied against him by the ESIC.

CS:GO rifler niko accepts ESIC's verdict while also speaking about his personal health

Niko who currently plays for OG has served the Danish organization Heroic twice, from October 2016 to August 2018, and then again from April 2020 to February 2021. During this time niko started to trust HUNDEN deeply, which according to the ESIC and due to his condition "significantly impacted his ability to know right from wrong, make value-based decisions on his own, and communicate effectively in a conventional way".

HUNDEN kept fostering this relationship but only for selfish reasons. He exploited that trust at a timing that was convenient to him, making niko believe that abusing the spectator bug was no big deal. Talking about this in particular niko said that,

Having said that, niko went on to take complete responsibility for his actions by admitting that despite it being a mistake, the role he played in all of this cannot be denied and all that he can take away from the issue is there is a lesson to be learned and so forth.

As for his personal health, niko says that it is something he has never wanted to talk about publicly. Throughout his life and career he has learned about both the positives and negatives of his diagnosis, which includes the advantages he receives while playing CS:GO professionally.

As per ESIC, the following sanction has been handed to niko,

1. A severe public reprimand for his behaviour.

2. A warning as to future conduct with severe consequences for any future breach of the ESIC Integrity Program.

3. Mandatory attendance at two one-on-one education sessions with the ESIC Commissioner of minimum 30 mins duration each.

4. A minimum 15 mins check-in with the Commissioner every month for a minimum of six months to ensure he has understood and is complying with the ESIC Integrity Program and to offer him support for any issues he might be having in this respect.

It will be sometime before OG might be seen competing in a tournament as they failed to qualify for both the PGL Major Stockholm 2021 and BLAST Premier: Fall Finals 2021.