Ole Einar Bjørndalen

Ole Einar Bjørndalen (born January 27, 1974, Drammen, Norway) is a former biathlete whose 14 Olympic Games medals are the most for any male Winter Olympian. The Norwegian-born Bjørndalen is widely considered the greatest biathlete of all time.

Early life and career

Bjørndalen, the youngest of five children, grew up on a farm in Simostranda, Norway, where he became a skilled cross-country skier. He followed his older brother Dag into competition in the biathlon, a demanding sport that combines high-speed cross-country skiing with rifle marksmanship. At age 16 Bjørndalen left home and entered a sports academy in Geilo to train in both cross-country and biathlon, though after a year he decided to concentrate on the latter. He was a member of Norway’s Olympic team for the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway. Unlike other Norwegian ski teams, however, the biathletes struggled, failing to win any medals. Bjørndalen’s best individual finish was 28th in the 10-km “sprint.”

Rise to the top

With his skiing solid and swift, Bjørndalen worked to become a stronger shooter. He moved to fourth in the overall World Cup standings for 1995, dipped to ninth in 1996, but rose to second place in 1997. At the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, Bjørndalen won the gold medal in the sprint and shared the silver medal with his brother and two other teammates in the 4 × 7.5-km relay. He wrapped up the season by capturing the World Cup overall title. He finished second overall in the World Cup three more times between 1998 and 2001 and third in the 2001–02 season.

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When the World Cup tour staged its pre-Olympic “test” events in 2001, Bjørndalen swept all three races. Coming into the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, Bjørndalen was understated as usual, but he declared that his dream was to be the first person to medal in both biathlon and cross-country skiing events. In two World Cup 30-km, mass-start cross-country races earlier in the season, he had finished a very close second to World Cup leader Per Elofsson of Sweden; however, Bjørndalen was a disappointing sixth in the Olympic 30-km race. After an off day, he steamrollered to gold in all three biathlon individual races and, with the help of three teammates, received his final gold medal in the 4 × 7.5-km relay, thus becoming only the third competitor to win four gold medals at the same Winter Games. He was also the first biathlete to win more than two gold medals in a single Games.

At the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy, Bjørndalen competed in five biathlon events and medaled in three, taking home two silver medals and a bronze. In February 2009, when he captured his 87th World Cup win, he surpassed Swedish Alpine skier Ingemar Stenmark as the winningest skier in World Cup history. In addition to the silver medal in the 20-km individual event he captured at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, Bjørndalen helped the Norwegian team win gold in the 4 × 7.5-km relay, bringing his career tally of Olympic medals to 11, a record for biathletes.

Most decorated Winter Olympian and retirement

He added to that record at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, where he won gold medals in the 10-km sprint and as a member of the Norwegian team in the new mixed relay event. He was later awarded a bronze medal in the 4 × 7.5-km relay event, following the disqualification of the Russian team because of doping violations. Bjørndalen’s wins moved him past countryman Bjørn Daehlie to become the most-decorated Winter Olympian ever. However, despite Bjørndalen’s winning seven world championships medals in the years between Olympiads, he was left off of Norway’s biathlon team for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. At those Games, his countrywoman Marit Bjørgen surpassed Bjørndalen’s Olympic medal total by winning her 15th career medal. Shortly thereafter Bjørndalen announced his retirement, citing concerns over a heart murmur.