Bjarne Dalin biathlete personal life. Bjoerndalen is tired. Not only physically, but also mentally. No big victories

It still happened! The king of biathlon, the Great and Terrible Bjoerndalen, has retired from the sport.

He couldn't compete forever, although almost all biathlon fans would really like to. But he showed an example of amazing sportsmanship and longevity. He first started competing at the World Cup in the 1992/93 season, and made the decision to quit the sport 25 years later!

Bjoerndalen: I would like to compete for a couple more years, but this was the last season

Bjoerndalen couldn't stop

During his outstanding sports career, Bjoerndalen won 13 Olympic medals, eight of which were gold, as well as 45 world championship awards, 20 of the highest standard. On Ole Einar’s shelf there are six Large crystal globes and 20 Small ones, and the awards won at the World Cup stages are simply countless: there are only 96 victories alone, including one in cross-country skiing. In terms of totality of achievements, there is no equal to the outstanding Norwegian in the world.

Kings can't do everything. Why Bjoerndalen doesn't want to jump off the needle

Coaches and the press do not spare the living legend and are ready to dance on his bones. Norwegian biathlon does not need Bjoerndalen.

The only shame is that in the last season in sports, Bjoerndalen was ranked among the strongest cohort rather by inertia, and was respected on the track more for his past merits. Of course, everyone is strong in hindsight, but if the amazing Norwegian had retired after the triumphant home World Championships in Oslo, where he won four medals, including gold in the relay, he would now be associated only with his endless victories and prizes.

But we all saw Bjoerndalen lose, and that's the saddest thing.

The great Norwegian could not stop - it was not in his rules. He devoted his entire life to sports, he is a professional to the core, who did not allow anyone or anything to stop his desire to win. And how could such a person leave biathlon after the World Championships in Oslo, when only two years remained before the Olympics in Pyeongchang, which could have become the seventh in his sports career? Oh, if only he knew how long they would be.

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Eight-time Olympic champion Ole Einar Bjoerndalen talks about continuing his sports career, meeting with Putin and the Russian failure in Oslo.

There is no place for pity in sports

Bjoerndalen has always been famous for his ability to lead himself to the most important start of the season, which is why he won at least one medal at the World Championships or Olympics every year. The series lasted two decades: from 1997, when the Norwegian fought on the track with Maigurov and Gross, to 2017, when Ole Einar fought with Martin Fourcade and Johannes Boe. Over the course of 20 years, three generations of biathletes have changed, and only Bjoerndalen has always been at the top.

But in 2018 there was not enough stock. As the athlete himself admitted, his heart began to fail him - despite everything, he continued to train, but could not work to the limit, just like before. In addition, family matters took over: raising a daughter, of course, took away precious hours from training, to which Ole Einar, in his prime, devoted almost all his free time.

The result turned out to be logical: on the eve of the Olympics, the great Norwegian remained only seventh in his team in terms of sports performance, and did not go to Pyeongchang as part of the national team. Even then, his career could have ended, but Bjoerndalen steadfastly decided to end the season.

The terrible ending of the Great One. Bjoerndalen was not taken to the Olympics

Nobody listened to the promises of the biathlon king. Ole Einar was once both Great and Terrible, but now he has simply grown old. And it went into circulation.

Over the remaining winter and spring months, Bjoerndalen had to become acquainted with a previously unknown feeling of compassion and pity. People signed petitions for the champion to return to the national team, the IOC started talking about a special “wild card” for the Olympics, the Belarusians were ready to quickly get a passport and provide a place in their team, and the Norwegian coaches began to waver in their decision. But pity for someone who has always terrified his rivals is an extremely bad sign. Ole Einar lost not in behind-the-scenes games, but in a fair sports fight. And so he realized that it was his time to finish.

At a press conference, announcing the end of his sports career, Bjoerndalen especially emphasized that he was not tired of biathlon. He simply cannot push himself to the limit anymore, and therefore sees no point in staying in the sport any longer. And the super-athlete is now more interested in simple family values ​​- he wants to spend more time with his family.

The main wedding of the century. How the king and queen got married

Who is the most athletic couple, what would await Bjoerndalen and Domracheva if they had not met, and how to use the unique genes of their child.

The world is hungry for new heroes

Bjoerndalen, of course, left a tremendous mark on the history of biathlon and sports in general. He is the ideal athlete, the true embodiment of biathlon. And he will always stand on a par with Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps, Larisa Latynina and Alexander Tikhonov, who will forever inscribe their names in the books of records and sports heroes of mankind.

But Bjoerndalen's records will not last forever. Biathlon is developing, competition is growing, the competition program is expanding. Martin Fourcade, at 29 years old, is already close to overtaking the great Norwegian in terms of number of victories - was it possible to imagine this five years ago? And Bjoerndalen is no longer the first in terms of the number of Olympic awards at the Winter Games: Norwegian skier Marit Bjorgen in Pyeongchang added to her collection and was ahead of her compatriot.

Martin Fourcade already has seven Big Crystal Globes to Ole Einar's six. And Martin recently announced that he will fight for at least two more seasons. Whether this will be enough to break the records of the great Norwegian is unknown. But one thing is clear: along with Bjoerndalen, an entire era of biathlon passed away - measured and sedate. Now the world is hungry for new heroes: sharp-tongued ones who are on social networks, deliberately creating hype around themselves and biathlon in general.

Breaking up is always difficult, but sometimes necessary. Bjoerndalen will forever remain a hero of his era. But now someone else will try on the crown.

Anyone who is even slightly interested in biathlon, or just sports life, does not need to explain who Ole Einar Bjoerndalen is. This is probably one of the most titled athletes in the history of biathlon. In addition, this is an athlete completely without age. It seems that he has always been and will always be, will take part in more than one Olympics and receive well-deserved awards. However, he is already 41 years old - a respectable age for any sport.

Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, biography.

Ole Einar Bjoerndalen was born in Norway, in Drammen, on a frosty January day on January 27, 1974. Ole also has an older brother, Dag, and a younger brother, Hans Anton, as well as two sisters. There are few Norwegian children who would not take up skiing and whose parents would not send them to skiing. The older brother was the first to go into biathlon and become a shooting skier, Ole followed him. The younger brother did not lag behind his brothers, with whom he and Ole later formed the backbone of the national biathlon team.

Ole has been involved in biathlon since he was 12 years old. His ski training was already good then, so soon Ole began to compete in serious competitions. In principle, Ole also won victories in skiing, but what attracted him to biathlon was the fact that he needed to be able to switch from dynamic skiing to calm and balanced shooting. This is very difficult and not for everyone. Although, according to the athlete himself, shooting was not very good for him, he clearly did not have any talent as a shooter.

Therefore, after working with a psychologist, he simply began to train a lot in shooting - 5 times a week, 2 times a day. Since then, he himself has been giving advice that if you don’t have special abilities for something, then you just need to study a lot and everything will turn out even better than those who have talent.

His debut took place when the athlete was 18 years old. And these were not junior competitions. In 1992, he took part in competitions among serious biathletes. And 2 years later there was the first Olympics in Lillehamer. True, these competitions did not bring Ole any awards, due to his lack of experience. But already in the next season his triumphant ascent to the sports Olympus began.

Ole's finest hour was the Olympic Games in Nagano in 1998, where he took gold and silver.

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However, his greatest triumph awaited him four years later in Salt Lake City. There he became first four times in different races. That same year he won other significant competitions. Then he had more or less successful seasons. Before the Sochi Olympics, Ole stated that it would be the end of his sports career. However, having shown brilliant results at the Olympics, in no way inferior to his young colleagues, he decided that he would still like to feel the taste of victory and remained in the sport until the World Championships in Oslo in 1616.

Ole Einar Bjoerndalen is rightly called the king of biathlon; no one else has so many victories and well-deserved awards, and no one else has held the personal championship for so long. But such achievements are a huge effort of the athlete himself. According to him, he constantly monitors the development of the sport, what other, younger athletes bring to it, and learns from them. Moreover, to do this, he just needs to carefully observe their manner of performance at competitions, and then simply copy it. Therefore, even at the age of forty, he continues to improve and improve his technique.

Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, personal life

Ole tries not to talk about his personal life with numerous correspondents. He doesn't like such questions. With his ex-wife Natalie Santer, an Italian biathlete, he met back in 1998, since then they have been together as much as their busy sports schedule allowed. In 2006 they got married. Despite many years of marriage, they never had children. In 2012, the couple decided to divorce, which they very discreetly reported to reporters, without disclosing details.

Most believe that this happened due to Ole’s romance with the Belarusian biathlete Daria Domracheva. Although some believe that the homewrecker has nothing to do with it, Ole’s difficult character is to blame. Be that as it may, Bjoerndalen is now alone, but surrounded by thick rumors about his upcoming wedding with Daria. Neither Ole nor Daria give comments regarding their future marriage, and reporters were also unable to photograph them together.

However, more recently, Bjoerndalen himself stated in an interview that after the wedding he and Daria intend to settle in Moscow, that it would be more comfortable for both, since Daria would not want to live in Norway, and Ole would not want to live in Minsk. Moscow could become a connecting link for them. Therefore, soon we will see a new beautiful union of outstanding athletes.

UPD: April 5, 2016 It became known that in October of this year Ole Einar Bjoerndalen and Daria Domracheva will become parents.

Bjoerndalen announced this at a press conference.

“I had a good friendship with Daria for a long time. She's been developing a little lately... And it's gotten to the point where we're going to be parents!

We're looking forward to it. And we are very happy,” said Bjoerndalen.

If you love sports, then on our website you can find a lot of wonderful photos and biographies.

His last name is difficult to pronounce for those who hear it for the first time. But those fans who are at least a little interested in winter sports could not help but hear about the great and powerful “king of biathlon” Ole Einar Bjoerndalen.

On Bjoerndalen's birthday, we invite you to remember why he deserved the title of living legend.

Kings are not born, but made

The future champion began to engage in biathlon with the light hand of his older brother Doug. At 18, he won his first medal, at 19, he made a splash at the Junior World Championships in Ruhpolding and immediately became a three-time world champion.

20-year-old Bjoerndalen was invited to a home 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. However, lack of experience did not allow the young biathlete to show good results.

He often tells a humorous story about his childhood:

I am a Norwegian from a simple peasant family where there were nine cows and five children, and where the cows were sometimes given more attention than the children.

Bjoerndalen took part in 6 Olympics in a row

13 Olympic medals

After Lillehamer, Bjoerndalen took part in six Olympics in a row and did not return empty-handed from each of them.

The 44-year-old Norwegian biathlete has: 13 medals, brought from the Olympic Games - 8 gold, 4 silver And 1 bronze.

Bjoerndalen - 8-time Olympic champion

So far, none of his colleagues in the workshop have been able to even come close to this level.

Bjoerndalen Olympics

Bjoerndalen became a living legend after Olympic Games 2002 in Salt Lake City.

Then the 28-year-old athlete had no equal in any of the races: he won Olympic gold in sprint, pursuit, relay And individual race.

Bjoerndalen won all the gold at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City

Then some people joked that men's biathlon was becoming uninteresting to watch, because all the races in a row were won by the unstoppable Bjoerndalen.

The most titled biathlete in history

There was some truth in this joke after all. Because the Norwegian still retains the title of the most successful biathlete at the World Championships.

Behind 20 years sports career, starting in 1998, at world championships he won 44 medals, of which - 20 gold, 14 silver And 10 bronze.

This record also still remains unattainable for the “king’s” pursuers.

Six Large Globes in the Collection

In addition to victories at the World Championships, Bjoerndalen has 96 wins at the World Cup stages, which today is also a sky-high record among biathletes.

The unstoppable Norwegian won the overall Grand Crystal Globe six times – in seasons 1997/98, 2002/03, 2004/05, 2005/06, 2007/08 And 2008/09. Besides him, only Martin Fourcade from France succeeded in this.

Bjoerndalen is the most decorated biathlete in history

In women's biathlon, only Swedish biathlete Magdalena Forsberg can boast of the same achievement.

Not just biathlon

When he was bored in biathlon, Bjoerndalen tested his strength in cross-country skiing, and even there he took medals from titled skiers.

In 2006, at the cross-country skiing World Cup in Ellivar, Sweden, the Norwegian won the 15-kilometer freestyle race.

40 years is not the limit

Bjoerndalen made it to the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi when he was already in his fifties. Then he repeated the achievement of skier Bjorn Deli, becoming an eight-time Olympic champion at the age of 40.

WITH Olympics 2014 the great and mighty Ole brought gold in the sprint and mixed relay.

With 13 Olympic medals, Bjoerndalen still retains the title of the most decorated athlete of the Winter Olympics.

Olympic Games 2018 without Bjoerndalen

Olympics 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Bjoerndalen obviously wanted to end his sports career gracefully. However, the coaches of the Norwegian national team decided otherwise.

Already at the beginning of the year, information appeared that King Ole might not go to the 2018 Olympics in South Korea, and everything is trivial because he does not show good results this season.

To get into the Norwegian Olympic team, the coaches set a task for the biathletes at least once since the beginning of the 2017-2018 season. get into the top six in personal races or enter the top 12 twice.

Over the course of 5 World Cup stages, Bjoerndalen failed to fulfill these requirements. His best result this season was 18th place in the individual and pursuit at the first stage of the World Cup in Ostersund, Sweden.

Bjoerndalen did not take part in the 2018 Olympics

On his Instagram page, the profile description still says “ Ole Einar Bjørndalen OL Pyeongchang 2018".

If you're unlucky in sports, you'll be lucky in love

At that Olympics, Bjoerndalen’s wife, Belarusian biathlete Daria Domracheva, competed for two. She brought relay gold and mass start silver from Korea, and emotional photos of her husband congratulating her on her victory went viral online.

Bjoerndalen congratulates Domracheva on her victory at the 2018 Olympic Games

Olympic champions build a house near Minsk, go to football games and ride a BELAZ.

We had a farewell party

More precisely, only Bjoerndalen had a farewell party. Daria announced her retirement from her career later. The event took place in Oslo. Ole invited current and retired athletes to the party. Those with whom the Norwegian competed throughout his career. However, many biathletes were unable to attend the important evening for Bjoerndalen. The Russian side at the event was represented by the “voice of biathlon” Dmitry Guberniev and Match TV correspondent Ilya Trifanov.

In addition to a delicious dinner, guests could enjoy live music, watch a performance by the Royal Norwegian Orchestra and an honor guard company, and study Bjoerndalen's awards, of which he had many. The main entertainment at the party was the dance of Ole and Daria. We have never seen biathletes in this role before.

They are building a house near Minsk

It was planned that the biathletes’ house in the village of Laporovichi, which is located 20 kilometers from Minsk, will be commissioned in 2016. However, construction was delayed. Now only finishing work remains. Athletes will be able to move in this fall.

The house, which locals nicknamed “the ship,” looks unusual in the Belarusian landscape. It is all the more surprising that Domracheva was involved in the design of the building. The mansion will have a gym, swimming pool and cinema. They say that the owners closely monitor the progress of construction and often come to Laporovichi.

Attended the World Cup final

There were many recognizable faces in the Luzhniki stands. Daria and Ole also arrived in Moscow for the final match. Domracheva had the flag of Belarus painted on her cheek, and Bjoerndalen had the flag of Norway. Although their national teams could not make it to the tournament. At the stadium, the couple took a selfie with actors Danila Kozlovsky (AKA Yuri Stoleshnikov) and Oleg Menshikov.

“It was nice to watch beautiful football. The World Championship is well organized. We are happy that we managed to get to the finals. Thank you, Moscow!” – Bjoerndalen said after the game to Match TV correspondent Yegor Kuznets.

Domracheva became an ambassador of the European Games, and Bjoerndalen became an honorary member of the FBN

When Ole Einar announced his retirement, many were sure that the Norwegian would not live long without biathlon. Anders Besseberg called Bjoerndalen his successor as head of the IBU, and in May the NRK publication reported that the eight-time Olympic champion would soon become the head coach of the Russian national team. According to a Norwegian media source, he was supposed to replace Rico Gross. But it seems that for now Bjoerndalen is more interested in his family than in finding a new job. The only biathlon post that Ole currently holds is an honorary member of the Norwegian Biathlon Federation. This appointment took place at the organization's gala in June.

Domracheva was offered the position of ambassador of the European Games, which will be held in Minsk next summer. Her task is to inform people about the competition, maintain and strengthen the tournament brand through her achievements and successes. The biathlete became the first person to be entrusted with the position of star ambassador of the Games.

Daria also runs her own clothing brand

The idea for the project came to Domracheva in the summer of 2016, when she was pregnant and could not participate in biathlon. But I missed my favorite sport. He became the inspiration for the first collection. According to Daria, the love of creativity was instilled in her by her architect parents.

Some clothes from Domracheva’s line have references to biathlon (five target eyes) and an image of the athlete. My husband also helps promote the brand.

Enjoying life in Belarus

The couple celebrated the start of their joint retirement with a day at sea. And then - to Belarus. The biathletes' vacation can be tracked using the hashtag #NorwegianInBelarus, which Daria came up with for her Instagram followers.

My acquaintance with Belarus began with a bathhouse.

The couple also attended the World Helicopter Championships. Daria, Ole, as well as Bjoerndalen’s younger brother and nephew flew over the outskirts of Minsk.

Last weekend, biathletes took a ride in the world's largest car - BELAZ. After the trip, they were awarded a certificate of successful completion of the initial mining dump truck driving course.

After Belarus, the couple will go to Norway. This trip also has its own hashtag - #BelarusianinNorway.

Photo: globallookpress.com, RIA Novosti/Viktor Tolochko

Ole Einar Bjoerndalen is the recognized king of biathlon. His track record includes eight Olympic gold medals, twenty victories at the World Championships and about a hundred personal victories at the World Cup stages.

Born 01/27/1974

Achievements:

• Eight-time Olympic champion (Nagano 1998 - sprint, Salt Lake City 2002 - individual race, sprint, pursuit, relay, Vancouver 2010 - relay, Sochi 2014 - sprint, mixed relay).
• Four-time silver medalist of the Olympic Games (Nagano 1998 - relay, Turin 2006 - individual race, pursuit, Vancouver 2010 - individual race).
• Bronze medalist at the 2006 Olympic Games in the mass start.
• Twenty-time world champion (1998 - team race, 2003 - sprint, mass start, 2005 - sprint, pursuit, mass start, relay, 2007 - sprint, pursuit, 2008 - pursuit, 2009 - sprint, pursuit, individual race, relay, 2011 - mixed relay, relay, 2012 - mixed relay, relay, 2013 - relay, 2016 - relay).
• Fourteen-time silver medalist of the world championships (1997 - relay, 1998 - pursuit, 2000 - relay, 2001 - mass start, 2004 - relay, 2006 - mixed relay, 2007 - relay, 2008 - individual race, relay, mass start, 2010 – mixed relay, 2015 – relay, 2016 – sprint, pursuit).
• Eleven-time bronze medalist of the world championships (1997 - pursuit, 1999 - relay, mass start, 2000 - mass start, 2001 - relay, 2004 - sprint, pursuit, individual race, 2008 - sprint, 2016 - mass start, 2017 – pursuit race).
• World Cup winner in the seasons 1997/1998, 2002/2003, 2004/2005, 2005/2006, 2007/2008, 2008/2009.
• Silver medalist of the World Cup 1996/1997, 1998/1999, 1999/2000, 2000/2001, 2003/2004, 2006/2007.
• Bronze medalist of the World Cup 2001/2002.
• World Cup stages: 95 victories, 53 second and 30 third places.

First seasons

The most popular sport in Norway is skiing, so Bjoerndalen didn't have much choice. However, having received basic skiing training, Ole Einar followed the example of his older brother Dag and switched to biathlon.

In the 1992/1993 season, the young biathlete achieved his first successes - first he won twice at the Norwegian Youth Championships, and then became a three-time world junior champion.

Victories at the junior level paved the way for Bjoerndalen to join the main team of the Norwegian national team for the home Olympic Games in Lillehammer. True, the debutant did not win any special laurels at such major competitions, limiting himself to 28th and 36th places in individual races and 7th in the relay.

But this was only the beginning of a long journey. The young athlete finally consolidates his position in the main team of the country and already in the next season makes it to the podium three times, finishing in 4th position in the World Cup, and is one step away from a medal in the sprint race at the World Championships.

Despite the fact that Bjoerndalen won his first cup victory, he finished the 1995/1996 season in 9th place. The reason for this is unstable shooting, which especially hinders the Norwegian in individual races. But as soon as the young athlete improves his hit percentage, he immediately becomes a regular on the podium. In the winter of 1997, Ole Einar finally established himself as a top biathlete, reaping a harvest of victories and prizes at cup stages and winning his first medals at the world championships - bronze in the pursuit and silver in the relay.

Nagano-1998

Bjoerndalen approached the Nagano Olympics in excellent shape, winning the final cup sprint and finishing second in the previous two. The non-randomness of the Norwegian results was confirmed in Japan. With perfect shooting, he brought a minute to his compatriot Frode Andresen.

Moreover, he had to prove his superiority twice - the day before Ole Einar also excelled, but the organizers canceled the results of the sprint race due to bad weather, and the athletes had to go to the start the next day. Unconditional victory!

Bjoerndalen also performed brilliantly in the relay. Without any extra ammunition on the range and completing his fourth round with the fastest time, he led Norway to the silver medal. Ole Einar ended his triumphant season with a victory in the overall World Cup.

No big victories

The performance in Nagano confirmed that Bjoerndalen, along with Andresen, has the best move. It would seem that now there will be no problems: shoot well and win. But not everything is so simple - the Germans Fischer, Luke and Gross were still good, ours and Rostovtsev shot in some races, and the Frenchman grew into an elite biathlete.

But Bjoerndalen still couldn’t get his shooting going, which let him down at the most inopportune moments. So, at three world championships in a row (1999-2001), he was never able to get into the prizes in his favorite sprint and pursuit, taking 4th and 5th places in it, but he became a regular on the podium at world championships in a new discipline - mass start.

Consistent performances at the cup stages brought the Norwegian three consecutive second positions in the World Cup, but they hardly pleased their owner after the triumphant Nagano. Moreover, in terms of speed, as a rule, he had no equal. All that remained was to deal with the shooting.

Salt Lake City 2002

At the American Games, the pursuit race was included in the Olympic tournament program for the first time, which doubly increased the importance of the sprint race. And then Bjoerndalen had a breakthrough - just like four years ago, he closed all ten targets and became the champion, having received a 29-second handicap over Fischer before the pursuit, which resulted in a convincing gold pursuit.

Well, the champion’s victorious march in the capital of the Mormons began with an individual race - “just” two mistakes did not prevent the fleet-footed Norwegian, who took fifth place in the ski mass start shortly before the start of the biathlon program, from convincingly winning the top twenty.

Bjoerndalen's series of golden performances was crowned by the relay race, with which he became a four-time winner and the main hero of Salt Lake City 2002. Greatest performance at the Olympics!

Domination

Success at the Olympic Games inspired Ole Einar, who from the next season until the end of the 2000s began to literally churn out victories. In seven years, he won five World Cups and eleven gold medals at world championships: sprint and mass start in Khanty-Mansiysk 2003, sprint, pursuit and mass start in Hochfilzen 2005, sprint and pursuit in Anterselva 2007, pursuit in Ostersund 2008, sprint, pursuit and individual race in Pyeongchang 2009.

Amazing speed, which was maintained from the first stage of the season to the last, and stable shooting made Bjoerndalen the favorite in absolutely every race. And the Norwegian justified his status at all world championships, except Oberhof, when Poiret still did not allow him to reach the gold. Particularly chic is the fact that Ole Einar won the overall world cup championships, missing several stages every year.

By the mid-2000s, Bjoerndalen’s successes had become so commonplace that he was given the nickname “king of biathlon,” which he had to confirm in Turin 2006. However, shortly before the Olympics, something happened to the Norwegian that you cannot insure against - an illness, as a result of which the favorite had to completely redraw his training plan and go to Italy not in the best condition. Alas, the temporary downtime and decline in form affected the results: silver in the individual and pursuit and bronze in the mass start. An excellent catch for any athlete, but not for Ole Einar, who planned to repeat the success of four years ago and had every reason to do so.

Recession

Bjoerndalen arrived at the Olympic Games in Vancouver at the age of 36 - an experienced athlete, but still capable of great victories. However, in Canada, as in Italy, he again made a mistake in the sprint, which even the pursuit did not help. The mass start was a complete failure – 27th place. But the Norwegian succeeded in the twenty - second place. And, of course, let's note the relay - Bjoerndalen cheerfully dealt with his rivals in the final stage and became a six-time Olympic champion.

Surprisingly, no one thought that the Norwegian was in decline, which is typical for an athlete of his age. It seemed to everyone around that an unfortunate accident had occurred at the Olympics. However, this was only the beginning of a protracted dive. After a great start to the 2010/2011 season, the king vacated his throne. From now on, he was no longer the fastest on the track, and his shooting left much to be desired. As a result, Bjoerndalen turned into a second-tier biathlete, teetering on the edge of the top ten.

In three calendar years, he won only one victory at the cup stages, and his best result at the world championships was fourth place in the sprint in 2013. At the same time, we must pay tribute, the veteran was good in relay races, regularly replenishing his gold baggage in them.

Sochi triumph

According to Ole Einar, the 2013/2014 season was to be his last in his career, so he paid special attention to preparing for the Olympics. Shortly before the Sochi starts, Bjoerndalen got into decent shape, competing on equal terms in speed with Svendsen and Fourcade, the fastest biathletes of that period.

But even the visible improvement in condition did not make the Norwegian a favorite - winning at 40 years old against 25-30 year olds is fantastic. But miracles happen: Bjoerndalen brought his best form to Russia in the last five years and became a triumphant sprint, winning it with one penalty and showing absolutely the best performance over the distance. And the mixed relay made him a two-time Sochi champion.

At the same time, he had excellent chances for medals in the pursuit and classic relay, in which he was content with fourth places. And if in the first case, he was separated from the podium, and possibly even victory, by one mistake (there were three in total), then in the second, “thank you” must be said to Svendsen, who failed the decisive stage.

Latest successes

Inspired by his success in Sochi, Bjoerndalen changed his mind about leaving the sport, declaring that he would remain in biathlon until the end of the 2015/2016 season. The joy of his fans knew no bounds - Ole Einar will say goodbye to them at the home World Cup.

Having started right off the bat at the cup stages, the Norwegian was well prepared for the main start of the season. His speed, of course, was slower than that of Fourcade and Johannes Boe, but compared to the others he was good. The shooting at the home stadium also went well. As a result, the 42-year-old super-veteran became second in the sprint and pursuit, excelled as part of the relay four and won bronze in the mass start.

What a beautiful end to a career - but no! Bjoerndalen surprises the public again by declaring that he plans to run until the next Olympics. However, this time a miracle did not happen - despite the fact that he did not leave the 2017 World Championships empty-handed (bronze in the pursuit), the Norwegian was disappointed in the Olympic season - his results dropped sharply, and he was not able to qualify for the team .

And in April 2018, something happened that should have happened a long time ago - Bjoerndalen announced his retirement. But despite the disappointing final note, Ole Einar has nothing to be sad about. Biathlon gave him everything he could in terms of satisfying his personal ambitions. And, of course, the Norwegian should thank fate that thanks to his favorite sport he has Daria Domracheva and daughter Ksenia.

King of Biathlon

It is useless to argue about who is the best biathlete of all time - the facts speak for Bjoerndalen. No other shooting skier has as many awards as he has. Even if suddenly the monstrous Martin Fourcade overtakes Ole Einar in the number of cup victories and gold medals at the World Championships and Olympic Games, this will not in any way undermine the status of our hero. Bjoerndalen is a synonym for the word “biathlon”, a person in love with the sport, who has lived for 30 years with the goal of self-improvement.

The visual factor also adds majestic epithets to the final assessment of the Norwegian’s career: winning sprints with an almost minute advantage, without outwardly straining, and becoming first in the overall World Cup standings, missing several stages per season, signs of a king.