The Men's 4 x 7.5 kilometre

biathlon The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not tim ...

relay competition at the

1972 Winter Olympics The 1972 Winter Olympics, officially the and commonly known as Sapporo 1972 ( ja, 札幌1972), was a winter multi-sport event held from February 3 to 13, 1972, in Sapporo, Japan. It was the first Winter Olympic Games to take place outside Europe ...

took place on 11 February, at

Makomanai Biathlon Site Makomanai Park (真駒内公園) is a city park in Minami-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. It is home to attractions such as Makomanai Open Stadium, Makomanai Ice Arena and the Sapporo Salmon Museum. It also contains a small gymnasium, restaurant and ...

. Each national team consisted of four members, with each skiing 7.5 kilometres and shooting twice, once prone and once standing. At each shooting station, a competitor has eight shots to hit five targets; however, only five bullets are loaded in a magazine at one - if additional shots are required, the spare bullets must be loaded one at a time. If after the eight shots are taken, there are still targets not yet hit, the competitor must ski a 150-metre penalty loop.

Results

The last three

Biathlon World Championships The first Biathlon World Championships (BWCH) was held in 1958, with individual and team contests for men. The number of events has grown significantly over the years. Beginning in 1984, women biathletes had their own World Championships, and fina ...

saw the Soviet Union take the relay title ahead of the Norwegians; at the first exchange in Sapporo, however, both were in surprising positions.

Alexander Tikhonov Alexander Ivanovich Tikhonov (russian: Александр Иванович Тихонов; born 2 January 1947) is a former Soviet-Russian biathlete. On 23 July 2007, he was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder and sentenced to three ye ...

had to take two penalty loops, and ended up more than a minute behind the surprise leaders from Japan, as Isao Ono stormed to a big lead. The British were also well placed, in third, with the East Germans splitting the two surprise contenders. In the second leg, the surprise teams fell off, the Japanese taking five penalty loops and the British four. It was the Soviets who asserted their authority, Rinnat Safin putting together the only sub 27-minute leg of the race to stake them to a one-minute lead. The Americans were now surprisingly in bronze medal position, while Norway's

Kåre Hovda Kåre Hovda (24 January 1944 – 13 February 1999) was a Norwegian biathlete. At the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, he finished fourth with the Norwegian relay team. He received a bronze medal in the men's relay at the 1974 Biathlon W ...

took three penalties to leave them more than two minutes behind.

Ivan Biakov Ivan Ivanovych Biakov (russian: Иван Иванович Бяков; 21 September 1944 – 4 November 2009) was a Soviet biathlete. At the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, he won a gold medal with the Soviet relay team. He received another gold ...

needed a penalty loop on the third leg, but still managed to extend the lead over

Dieter Speer Dieter Speer (born 24 February 1942) is a former East Germany, East German biathlon, biathlete. He was the first German to hold the title when he became world champion in biathlon in 1971, beating the outstanding Alexander Tikhonov over 20 kilo ...

of East Germany, with Sweden coming up into third place through some good shooting by Torsten Wadman.

Viktor Mamatov Viktor Fyodorovich Mamatov (russian: Виктор Фёдорович Маматов; born 21 July 1937) is a former Soviet Union, Soviet Biathlon, biathlete. At the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, he won a gold medal with the Soviet relay team. ...

had a quick final leg to ease the Soviets home to victory, while the other medal placing changed after some shooting struggles. Holmfrid Olsson of Sweden and

Horst Koschka Horst Koschka (born 8 September 1943 in Altenberg) is a retired East German biathlete. He represented the sports club Sportvereinigung (SV) Dynamo The Sportvereinigung Dynamo () (''Dynamo Sports Association'') was the sport associati ...

of East Germany each missed twice, dropping the Swedes out of the medals and the East Germans to bronze, behind a Finnish team that had a great final leg from

Mauri Röppänen Mauri Uolevi Röppänen (born 19 January 1946 in Outokumpu, North Karelia) is a Finnish biathlete and Olympic medalist. He received a silver medal at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit= ...

. As for Norway, all four of their shooters needed at least one penalty leg, but they still managed to finish fourth, though there was a substantial gap between them and the top three.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Biathlon at the 1972 Winter Olympics - Relay

Relay A relay Electromechanical relay schematic showing a control coil, four pairs of normally open and one pair of normally closed contacts An automotive-style miniature relay with the dust cover taken off A relay is an electrically operated switch ...