Bjoerndalen biography. "I'm always hungry." How Bjoerndalen remains one of the best biathletes in the world. Ole Einar Bjoerndalen now

Ole Einar Bjoerndalen is a famous Norwegian biathlete.

He was born on January 27, 1974 in the Norwegian town of Drammen. From an early age, like all Norwegian children, he knew how to ski well. At school, he did not strive to get good grades, but devoted all his time to sports. Among his friends he had the nickname Fat Man, although he was not fat, but had a large face.

At first Ole played handball, then tennis, then football. Many years later, Bjoerndalen admits that at a young age he smoked and drank alcohol, but decided to change his life.

At the age of 12 he begins to seriously engage in biathlon. Since then, he has not smoked a single cigarette or drunk a drop of alcohol.

At first, Bjoerndalen showed terrible results in shooting, but, having set himself the goal of learning to work brilliantly at the line, he soon became one of the best shooters on the team.

Biathlon career

Already at the age of 18, the talented Ole Einar makes his debut at the Biathlon World Cup. In his first season, Bjoerndalen failed to win any medals. In the winter of 1994, the coaches, seeing all the makings of a future biathlon star in the young Norwegian, took him to the Olympic Games. But Ole didn’t make it to the podium there either. Lack of experience took its toll.

On December 8, 1994, Bjoerndalen won the World Cup prize for the first time. In the sprint race of Bad Gastein, Austria, Ole Einar came second, losing 14 seconds to his compatriot Jon Aage Tyldum. Bjoerndalen's first victory took place on January 11, 1996. In the individual race at the third stage of the World Cup in Anterselva, Italy, the Norwegian shot to zero and was able to win.

In the 1996 season, Bjoerndalen became one of the strongest biathletes on the planet. At the end of the season, Ole Einar took second place in the overall standings, losing 11 points to German Sven Fischer.

At 24, Bjoerndalen becomes an Olympic champion. In Nagano, Japan, on February 18, 1998, he won the sprint, a minute ahead of Frode Andresen, who came second in that race. In the same year, Bjoerndalen wins his first World Cup, taking first place in the overall standings.

In 2002, Ole Einar, of course, went to the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City as one of the favorites. But no one could imagine what incredible results he would show. Bjoerndalen won all three individual races: individual, sprint and pursuit, and then won victory as part of the Norwegian team in the relay. Thus, he became a five-time Olympic champion.

In the post-Olympic season of 2002/03, Bjoerndalen took the World Cup for the second time, and repeated the success in 2004/05 and 2005/06.

Ole failed to win gold medals at his third Olympics, but he came second twice and third once.

In the 2007/08 and 2008/09 seasons, Bjoerndalen won two more Big Crystal Globes - the trophy for winning the overall World Cup, and then things started to decline. At the 2010 Olympics, the first two races for the “King of Biathlon” turned out to be failures - first seventeenth place in the sprint, and then seventh in the pursuit. In the individual race, Ole pulled himself together and showed the second result. But after 3 days in the mass start, the titled Norwegian missed 7 times. Such shooting did not allow Bjoerndalen to take a more or less decent place. As a result, 27 results.

In 2011, Ole was injured and his results deteriorated further. In the 2011/12 season, 16th place in the overall standings, and the following year even 22nd. In the summer of 2013, Bjoerndalen announced his intention to retire after the Olympics in Sochi. Ole Einar prepared for his last Games using an individual program.

On February 8, 2014, to everyone’s surprise, the 40-year-old Norwegian became a 7-time Olympic champion. Despite the miss, Bjoerndalen wins the sprint. After 10 days, the Norwegian won his eighth gold in the mixed relay. In the overall standings at the end of the season, Ole becomes sixth. He decides to continue competing until the 2016 home World Championships in Oslo.

In the summer of 2014, Bjoerndalen trained unusually. He bent his sticks at the top. He found that this way a more powerful repulsion was achieved. This allows you to win a few cherished seconds at a distance. He started the 2014/15 season with these sticks. He was soon joined by several biathletes, including such celebrities as Swede Fredrich Lindström and Belarusian Daria Domracheva. The next season, Ole Einar abandoned this “invention” and began another experiment - super-light sticks.

At the World Championships in the Norwegian capital, the “King of Biathlon” performed excellently: two silvers, gold and bronze. Bjoerndalen announces that he has no intention of retiring just yet.

The twenty-fifth biathlon season was Ole Einar Bjoerndalen's last. The best result is 18th place. The 44-year-old biathlete failed to qualify for the Olympics in Pyeongchang, Korea, but Bjoerndalen went there as part of the coaching staff of the Belarusian national team.

On December 29, 2018, Ole Einar Bjoerndalen took part in the “Christmas Star Race” - an annual biathlon show. This race was the last official start for the Norwegian. Bjoerndalen performed in tandem with his wife Daria Domracheva.

Ole Einar left the last shooting third, but was soon overtaken by the German Benedikt Doll. A few meters before the finish, Doll stopped. After waiting for Bjoerndalen, the German gave him his hand and crossed the finish line with him.

Ski race

In addition to competing in biathlon, Bjoerndalen is a good skier. He took part in ski competitions. He participated in the World Ski Championships twice, but failed to reach the top ten, finishing in 11th and 13th places. In the World Cup, Ole Einar became a silver medalist twice. The first time this happened was on November 25, 2001, and the second time on December 22 of the same year. On November 18, 2006, Bjoerndalen won the 15-kilometer race in Gällivare, Sweden.

In relay races, Ole Einar won two awards - bronze in 2003 and silver in 2006.

Victories in individual and team competitions

Bjoerndalen is the most titled biathlete in history. He has many awards to his name. The Norwegian has 96 victories in personal biathlon races, and his last victory became a kind of record.

On December 2, 2015, he became the oldest winner of the Biathlon World Cup in the history of the competition. At the time of “victory” in the Ostersund individual race, Ole Einar was 41 years, 10 months and 5 days.

In team disciplines, Bjoerndalen won 41 times.

In total, the great biathlete has 137 victories, which is a record that most likely no one will be able to beat.

Results in the overall standings of the small and large World Cups

In the overall World Cup standings, Bjoerndalen won 6 times. He came second the same number of times.

Ole Einar has twenty Small Crystal Globes. This award is given to biathletes for victories in the overall standings of a particular discipline. In nine seasons, the Norwegian was recognized as the best in the sprint. He won the pursuit and mass start classifications five times each and won the individual race standings once. This discipline is the most unsuccessful in the history of Bjoerndalen.

Shooting statistics

In his youth, Bjoerndalen was a poor shooter, but over time, due to hard training, the Norwegian achieved stable statistical results. Ole Einar showed his best shooting in the 2010/11 season - the percentage of accurate hits was 86.7%. The following season the figure worsened significantly - 79.6%.

Life after leaving professional sports

Bjoerndalen devoted a quarter of a century to biathlon. He spent 25 seasons on the World Cup circuit, finishing on the podium 261 times.

It’s not for nothing that Ole Einar is called the “King of Biathlon”, because he was and remains the strongest biathlete in history, who even at the age of 40 fought for prizes and was able to win. It seemed that he had always been and always would be, and when it was time for him to leave, all biathlon fans were upset.

Bjoerndalen's era is over, but he himself decided not to stray far from biathlon and became a journalist on one of the Norwegian sports channels. Now Ole Einar conducts interviews and films while visiting World Cup stages, where he himself recently performed.

A coaching career has not yet attracted him, although he has received more than once offers from various national teams, including the Russian one.

As Bjoerndalen says, now his family comes first. In 2016, he married the famous Belarusian biathlete Daria Domracheva, and on October 1 of the same year they had a daughter, Ksenia.

Interesting video: bright victories and duels of U.A. Bjoerndalen (seasons 2002-2012)

In January Ole Einar Bjoerndalen turned 44 years old. The current biathlon season was the twenty-fifth in his career: his first starts at the World Cup stages came in 1993.

Ole Einar Bjoerndalen. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Biography

Bjoerndalen was born on January 27, 1974 in Drammen, the sixth largest city in Norway, located 40 kilometers from Oslo. Since childhood, his main hobby was sports: football, handball, athletics, cycling, skiing. As a result, following the example of his older brother Daga, he became interested in biathlon.

In 1992, the nineteen-year-old athlete, who became a three-time world junior champion, was noticed by the coaches of the Norwegian national team, and already in 1994 he took part in his first Olympics (Lillehammer). This attempt did not bring him luck: his best result was 7th place in the relay.

Bjoerndalen won his first “adult” podium at the first stage of the World Cup of the 1994/95 season, following which he took fourth place. By the Olympics in Nagano (1998), Bjoerndalen was already an established athlete, as evidenced by the results: gold in the sprint and silver in the relay. That same year he won the overall World Cup for the first time.

The Norwegian biathlete's finest hour was the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City (USA): Bjoerndalen won all four gold medals (individual race, sprint, pursuit, relay) and became the only absolute Olympic champion in the history of this sport. It is curious that, as a “warm-up” before the main competitions, Ole Einar took part in a 30-kilometer cross-country ski race, finishing fifth in it.

In Turin 2006, the Norwegian won three Olympic medals, but not a single gold one: two silver and a bronze. At Vancouver 2010 he won silver in the individual race and gold in the relay. Shortly before the start of the Games in Sochi, Bjoerndalen celebrated his fortieth birthday, and many believed that his invitation to the Norwegian national team was just a tribute to the great champion. However, the veteran refuted all forecasts by winning two gold medals at once (sprint and mixed relay). Following the results of the 2014 Olympics, Bjoerndalen was named the best athlete of the Games along with the Belarusian biathlete Daria Domracheva, who soon became his wife.

After Sochi, Ole Einar was going to retire, but ultimately postponed the decision for another Olympic cycle. The correctness of the choice was confirmed by the results of the 2016 World Championships, which took place in Oslo: the forty-two-year-old athlete won 4 medals in 5 races (2 silver, gold and bronze). However, he still did not make it to Pyeongchang 2018, not being included in the final application of the Norwegian team. The IOC wanted to issue him an individual invitation to the Games, but at the last moment abandoned this step. Ole Einar went to the Olympics as a member of the coaching staff of the Belarusian national team.

The main results of Bjoerndalen's career: eight-time Olympic champion, twenty-time world champion, six-time individual World Cup winner. He won 95 personal victories (Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cup stages), and in total, including team disciplines, 131.

In recent years, the athlete has been living in the Austrian town of Obertilliach. On October 1, 2016, Bjoerndalen’s wife Daria Domracheva gave birth to a daughter, Ksenia, and the birth took place in Minsk. It is interesting that, in addition to his native Norwegian, as well as the almost “mandatory” languages ​​for this country, German and English, Ole Einar also speaks a little Russian.

On April 3, 2018, at a specially convened press conference, the legendary Norwegian biathlete announced his retirement.

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.

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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.

Bjoerndalen: meeting with Putin is fantastic!

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.

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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.

Their story involves Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjoerndalen. the site tells why the National Olympic Committee of Norway decided to take this step, and also who will replace the legendary athlete in the national team.

These Games were to be the last for the most successful biathlete in history. In the summer, Ole Einar prepared for the Olympics, trying to get himself into peak shape by February. Unfortunately, it was not without problems. The 43-year-old Norwegian, who also visited Raubichi, did not feel the best, but continued to be brave, not focusing on his failures in the preparatory period. Three-time Sochi 2014 champion and Bjoerndalen's wife Daria Domracheva recently told NRK that her husband's difficulties were quite serious.

“At first he had problems preparing in the summer. I think few athletes could even cope with this. But still he began to compete in the World Cup. However, perhaps because it happened so close to the season, it was difficult to get back into shape for the start of the season when it mattered most.

Bjoerndalen himself again modestly denied, calling the problems “unpleasant little things.”

Be that as it may, Bjoerndalen started the season well. He was 18th twice in the first World Cup. At that time, few doubted that Ole would easily meet the standards in the next races, but the results began to decline. In Hochfilzen, the Norwegian finished 28th in the sprint, and fell outside the top 40 in the pursuit.

Bjoerndalen did not go to the third stage in France, going with Domracheva to another training camp. And if Daria benefited from additional training, Ole was again far from the required condition. In the sprint on the Oberhof track, he was only 52nd with two penalties, and in the pursuit he was 36th. The stage in Ruhpolding was approaching, after which the Norwegian coaching staff planned to decide on the six that would go to Pyeongchang.

Brothers Boe and Emil Hegle Svendsen fulfilled all the standards at the beginning of the season. They repeatedly made it into the top 12 at stages without raising doubts about their candidacies. There were four contenders for the remaining three places: Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, Lars Birkeland, Erlend Bjontegård and Henrik L'Abe-Lund. The goal is to finish in the top 12 individually twice (or once in the top 6) or be in the top six Norwegians overall. In previous years, Bjoerndalen would have easily dealt with this trio, but now their results looked much more preferable.

Birkeland placed in the top 12 four times in individual races and proved to be an excellent relay starter. In the overall standings he is on the border of the top ten and even beat Svendsen.

L'Abe-Lund was also ahead of Bjoerndalen many times, and in Hochfilzen he was in the top 10 twice. He is now in 24th place in the overall standings.

Finally, Ole Einar’s main rival was the least famous biathlete of this squad, Erlend Bjontegård. The 28-year-old Kongsberg native regularly found himself as the seventh wheel, not making it into the national team. He was not taken to the Olympic Games and was only included once in the application for the World Championships. What can I say, even at the World Cup stages Erlend is an infrequent guest. When it became clear that he, and not Bjoerndalen, could go to Pyeongchang, Bjontegård felt uneasy, saying that he would be fine with the coaches' decision if they chose Ole. But in the end, Erlend’s results spoke better than any words. He was not included in the team for the stages in Östersund and Oberhof, but he made excellent use of his chance in Annecy when Bjoerndalen left for training camp. The 28-year-old biathlete finished tenth in the sprint and mass start, immediately fulfilling the standard of two places among the top 12 riders in individual races.

Everything was decided in an independent escort in Ruhpolding. Neither Bjöntegård nor Bjørndalen qualified for the mass start, so the 20-kilometer four-shooting race was the final test. To qualify for the Olympics, Ole Einar needed to finish in the top six, but the coaching staff would probably have been convinced by any high result from Bjorndalen, provided that Bjontegard performed worse. Before the start, the veteran was focused. He understood that the key factor would be not so much physical fitness as shooting, because for every miss in the individual race there is a one-minute penalty.

Bjoerndalen started the race at a good pace and passed the first shooting range without any mistakes. Ole consolidated his success on the stand. By the third shooting he was fifth, and by that time Bjontegård had already made two misses. Alas, it was the third firing line that became fatal for Bjoerndalen. He unexpectedly missed twice in prone. At the last shooting stage, Ole Einar added another miss to his liability and went to the finishing circle. In the final protocol of his most important race in this World Cup, he became 42nd. This is the worst result in the team. Even Vetle Sjostad Christiansen, who did not qualify for a place in Pyeongchang, ran better. Bjontegård, like Ole Einar, missed three shots but finished 21st. On the track he was faster than Bjoerndalen by a full minute.

After this, the coach of the Norwegian men's national team, Siegfried Maze, faced a difficult dilemma. On the one hand, Ole Einar Bjoerndalen did not fulfill the selection criteria, on the other hand, the rejection of the great champion could cause the anger of the fans. If Maze had a choice, he would probably have limited himself to an application of four people. It is clear that it will be difficult for L'Abe-Lund and Bjontegard to fight for medals, and then the coaching staff will repeatedly remember Bjorndalen. But if we took Maze Ole Einar, who would also hardly have joined the fight for awards, there would have been noise about non-compliance with the sporting principle.

Maze decided to focus on the selection criteria. Birkeland, Bjontegård and L'Abe-Lund completed them, but Bjoerndalen did not. Although not immediately, the National Olympic Committee of Norway, which initially advocated the inclusion of Ole Einar and which approves the applications for the Games, nevertheless agreed with the opinion of the coaches.

— We have had thorough discussions with the sports directorate of the biathlon federation. Unfortunately, the decision was made not to include Ole Einar Bjoerndalen in the squad for the PyeongChang Olympics. His results this season do not give hope for a good result. Other biathletes performed better and deserved the opportunity to compete at the Games. It is difficult to make such decisions, given the merits of Bjoerndalen. His name will forever remain in the history of the Norwegian Olympic movement,” the NRK channel quotes the representative of the Norwegian NOC, Toure Øvrebo, as saying.

It’s hard to disagree with Evrebo. The decision of the Norwegian side is difficult, but fair. There is no doubt that this step will be discussed before, during and long after the Olympics. But it is much more important now to pay tribute to the great champion, who at the age of 43 decided to enter the fight for selection for the Olympics in a team with the highest competition in the world. Bjoerndalen does not live on the moon, he perfectly understood that his experience and endurance are no longer so effective in modern biathlon with these explosive speeds and crazy intensity. At his age, it is already difficult to digest loads sufficient for competitive struggle. But Bjoerndalen fought to the end and looked decent. His results were enough to qualify for any team in the world except Norway and Germany.

Failure to qualify for the Olympics will not make him any less great or take away his legendary status. Ole Einar Bjoerndalen will continue to be an eight-time Olympic champion, a 20-time world champion, a 135-time World Cup winner and the best biathlete in history. Well, we will once again regret that the International Olympic Committee does not issue a wild card outside the selection criteria, following the example of the organizers of tennis tournaments.

Oley Einar was born on January 27, 1974 in Drammen, Norway. Already in childhood, in the biography of Ole Bjoerndalen, sports were given an important place, and little time was devoted to study. Ole was involved in athletics, cycling, handball, football and many other disciplines. The athlete took up biathlon in 1984, and Bjoerndalen’s ski training has been at the highest level since childhood.

He first took part in the World Cup in 1992, and in the Olympic Games in 1994. Bjoerndalen's education was received at the Norwegian Ski Academy. In 1994-1995, the athlete achieved his first significant victories - he took 4th place at the World Cup.

1998 was a favorable year for the biathlete. Thanks to the training and experience gained, the athlete earned his first medal at the Olympic Games in 1988, and also became first at the World Cup. Since then, Ole Einar Bjoerndalen has won 89 victories in biathlon. No other biathlete in the world has managed to surpass this figure.

Ole is a five-time Olympic champion (he received 4 medals in 2002 in Salt Lake City, one in 1998 in Nagano). Also, the biography of Einar Bjoerndalen is known as a 14-time world championship winner. He won gold in 1998, then two medals in 2003, four medals in 2005, two in 2007, one in 2008, four in 2009. The athlete's shooting accuracy is 83%.

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