Ole Einar Bjørndalen : biography

Ole Einar Bjørndalen (born 27 January 1974) is a Norwegian professional biathlete. He is often regarded as one of the greatest athletes of all time. In 1992, he won his first career medal at the junior world championships. A year later In 1993, after winning a record three junior world championship titles, Bjørndalen made his Biathlon World Cup debut. His breakthrough came in 1994 when he featured on his first World Cup podium in a Sprint race held in Bad Gastein, Austria. Bjørndalen’s first participation at the Olympic Games was during the Lillehammer 1994 Winter Olympics, which were held in his home country of Norway. He obtained his first major victory on 11 January 1996 in an individual competition held in Antholz-Anterselva, Italy.

Skiing

Bjørndalen is a fast skier, and the first biathlete, to win an FIS cross-country world cup race. Teammate Lars Berger is the only biathlete to win individual and relay medals in both biathlon and cross-country skiing World Championships (both of the relay medals were gold medals). Bjørndalen excels on hills, is very quick on the flat, and he’s also good at downhill, because of his balance skills and technique. His ease on hills lies in his slight frame. Skiers such as Bjørndalen and Raphael Poiree who are smaller built tend to ‘float’, or glide over hills.

Bjørndalen’s general tactic has been to skate as hard and as fast as possible from the start of the race, and build up a large lead, so that he is able to afford a miss in the shooting (a penalty lap takes roughly 23 seconds), and still be in the top. Although Bjørndalen has shown at the beginning of the 2006/07 season that he is taking the first lap slower in order to judge the pace of the race, and then steadily increase his pace.

Equipment

Bjørndalen uses Madshus skis, boots, and poles. He uses Rottefella NNN bindings. His gloves and base layer are from Odlo, and he uses Casco glasses.

During the off-season in 2006 Bjørndalen was testing a new ski boot that had a high heel in the Torsby ski tunnel with boot manufacturers Madshus. The theory is that it forces the knee more forward for better position and it incorporates the large gluteal muscles.

Record

Olympic Games

World Championships