Kaija Parve-Helinurm (born 14 June 1964, in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

) is a former and so far most successful

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

biathlete The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing (sport), cross-country skiing and shooting sports, rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into sh ...

.Kaija Parve ei taha kuidagi ajaloo hämarusest esile trügida
Õhtuleht (2008-03-03) She used to be a cross-country skier (became Estonian champion in 1983), but after hearing that there was a possibility to participate in

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

, Parve switched to biathlon. After spending 7 years with Soviet biathlon team, she retired in 1990 due to pregnancy and getting married. In 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, women's biathlon was held for the first time. The contestants, who won medals, had been beaten by Kaija with several minutes just few years earlier.

References

1964 births Living people Sportspeople from Tallinn Estonian female biathletes Biathlon World Championships medalists Soviet female biathletes {{USSR-biathlon-bio-stub