(PYEONGCHANG 2018 STORIES TO WATCH)
(BIATHLON)
A mix of cross-country skiing and rifle shooting,
biathlon was first contested at the Olympics in 1960.
It was and still is a test of contrary mandates -
speed the legs and heart
through the aerobic demands of skiing
and pause to slow the heart rate sufficiently
to fire five shots at sedentary targets
between two and four times during a race.
Each missed target either adds a minute to the final time
or entails skiing a penalty loop.
In Pyeongchang, biathletes will contest a sprint event.
Biathletes contest the longer individual race
skiing in intervals against the clock.
The top 60 athletes will next participate
in the pursuit event,
with the fastest sprints taking off first.
They contest the mass start all at once,
as if running a marathon.
Four skiers per team make up the relay events.
The mixed relay includes two legs each
for men and ladies
at their respective distances per team.
Competition will take place
at the Alpensia Biathlon Centre,
a site that first held a 2008 Biathlon World Cup event
and also the 2009 Biathlon World Championships.
The shooting range is 82.5m by 50m.
The course width is 8m
with an altitude difference being 47m.
Which famous Norwegian biathlete
is married to Olympic champion Darya Domracheva?
(FIND OUT AT THE END)
Ole Einar Bjorndalen is the greatest biathlete
and one of the greatest Winter Olympians in history.
He will be 44 years old at Pyeongchang 2018.
In six Olympic Winter Games, Ole Einar has won
13 medals, the most in history.
Ole Einar was elected to the IOC's Athletes' Commission
in 2014, but resigned from the position
once he decided to pursue another Olympics.
He has participated in 23 World Championships,
winning 45 medals, including 20 gold.
In 2008, a three-metre-tall statue of Ole Einar
was erected in his hometown of Simostranda.
Martin Fourcade won two gold medals and one silver
at Sochi 2014,
adding to the silver medal he won
in Vancouver four years earlier.
He also has won 25 medals,
including 11 golds, at World Championships.
His brother, Simon, is a two-time Olympic biathlete.
Martin is the only other biathlete
besides Ole Einar Bjorndalen
to have won the overall World Cup six times.
Martin has two daughters,
aged 11 months and two years.
Martin hails from Ceret, France,
a town at the base of the Pyrenees mountains,
known for producing
some of the world's sweetest cherries.
European nations top the medal count
for biathlon at the Olympics.
France is fifth with six gold medals,
behind the Soviets with nine.
Russia has ten gold,
Norway has 15 gold medals
and Germany, with a total of 45 medals,
with 16 gold.
Darya Domracheva won gold medals in pursuit,
individual and mass start events in Sochi 2014.
Though she was born in Minsk,
Darya grew up in the small Siberian town
of Nyagan, where she started skiing at age six
in the frigid winters.
Darya majored in tourism management
at the Belarussian State Economic University.
Darya took 500 hours of video of herself
and her team-mates before and during Vancouver 2010.
The edited material was made into a movie.
Although she did not contend for a medal at Sochi 2014,
Laura Dahlmeier enters the Pyeongchang Games
as a prohibitive favourite to win several.
At the 2017 World Championships,
she captured gold medals in five disciplines
and a silver in the sprint event.
Laura began shooting at age seven
but needed two more years
to give up alpine racing for biathlon.
Laura loves the outdoors
and says a perfect day ends with a night in a ski hut.
Did you know biathlon
is the number one sweat-producing event
at the Olympic Winter Games?
The average female biathlete produced 1.4 litres of sweat,
while males produced over 2.3 litres of sweat.
Gabriela Koukalova won two silver medals at Sochi 2014,
in the mass start and mixed relay events.
Gabriela's mother, Gabriela Svobodova,
won an Olympic silver in cross-country skiing
at Sarajevo 1984.
Gabriella's husband, Petr Koukal,
is a Czech professional badminton player.
She won her second career world title in Hochfilzen last year,
edging Laura Dahlmeier in the sprint event.
Gabriela says her mother turns away
when she shoots in competition,
cos she's afraid it will be bad luck if she looks.
Gabriela preferred writing and drawing as a young girl,
and showed interest in sports because of her mother's medal
that was on display in the living room.
Marie Dorin Habert is a two-time Olympic medallist
with two golds at the World Championships in 2015
and three more in 2016.
She is married to biathlon team-mate Lois Habert
and had their daughter Adele in late 2014.
Marie is an avid fan of outdoor activities.
She enjoys climbing, windsurfing and hiking.
Did you know the answer to our earlier question?
That is Ole Einar Bjorndalen, one of the greatest ever.
Biathlon runs for ten days
during the Olympic Winter Games Pyeongchang 2018.
In the first week,
the sprints, individual and pursuit events
will take place.
The second week consists of the mass start events
and the relay.
The crowds at biathlon events are always vocal...
..and this competition will be no different.
The Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang
set to begin February 9th.
Fill your knowledge tank
by watching other episodes on Olympic Channel.