Biathlon 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 ...

consisted of two

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 ...

events, held 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 ...

. The events began on 9 February and ended on 11 February 1972.

Medal summary

Five nations won medals in biathlon, the Soviet Union and Norway leading the medal table with one gold medal each, while East Germany were the only country to win more than one medal.

Hansjörg Knauthe Hansjörg Knauthe (born 13 July 1944) is a retired East German biathlete 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 wh ...

, who was part of both East German medals, was the only athlete to win more than one medal.

Medal table

Events

Participating nations

Fourteen nations sent biathletes to compete in Sapporo. Below is a list of the competing nations; in parentheses are the number of national competitors. Italy made its Olympic biathlon debut. * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

References

{{Biathlon at the Winter Olympics

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

1972 Winter Olympics events 1972 in biathlon Biathlon competitions in Japan