Emil Hegle Svendsen (born 12 July 1985) is a retired Norwegian

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 whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not time ...

. He has won eight medals at

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

(four gold) and five individual gold medals and seven relay gold medals at

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, ...

. He skis with Trondhjems Skiskyttere, based in

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

Career

The 2005–06 season was Svendsen's first season on the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

tour, before then he competed as a junior in the European Cup, now known as the IBU cup. During his first season in the World Cup Svendsen finished fifth in three races, two of them in sprints (

Brezno Brezno (; 1927–1948 ''Brezno nad Hronom'', german: Bries or ''Briesen'', hu, Breznóbánya) is a town in central Slovakia with a population of around 21,000. Geography Brezno is located within the Geomorphological division of Slovakia, Horehr ...

Osrblie Osrblie ( hu, Cserpatak) is a village and municipality in Brezno District, in the Banská Bystrica Region of central Slovakia. The village is best known for biathlon races, with Biathlon World Cup events taking place since the mid-1990s and with on ...

and

Ruhpolding Ruhpolding is the municipality with the biggest area of the Traunstein district in southeastern Bavaria, Germany. It is situated in the south of the Chiemgau region in the Alps and next to the Austrian border. Ruhpolding has a biathlon track. ...

), and the other in a mass start (

Holmenkollen Holmenkollen () is a mountain and a neighbourhood in the Vestre Aker borough of Oslo, Norway. It goes up to above sea level and is well-known for its international skiing competitions. Overview In addition to being a residential area, the are ...

). He also finished races in seventh, ninth, and four more within the top twenty (14th, 15th, 17th, 19th). He finished the overall season in 22nd place. He was 32nd in the pursuit, 21st in the sprint, and 7th in the mass start, only seven points behind Sven Fischer in fourth place. Svendsen was selected for the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

, to compete in the mass start, in which he came sixth, after hitting 18/20 targets and finished 53.8 seconds behind winner

Michael Greis Michael Greis (; born 18 August 1976) is a former German biathlete. Career Greis first competed at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, finishing 15th and 16th in the 10 km sprint and 12.5 km pursuit events in the biathlon. G ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. As a junior Svendsen won four gold medals in junior World Championships, his first and second gold was in the pursuit, and the relay in Haute Maurienne in 2004, and the third and fourth gold in the individual and the sprint in

Kontiolahti Kontiolahti ( sv, Kontiolax; literally meaning "bear bay") is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the North Karelia region, about north of Joensuu. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The pop ...

in 2005. He also has two bronze medals from the individual and the pursuit in

Kościelisko Kościelisko is a village in Tatra County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, in southern Poland, close to the border with Slovakia. (It was previously in Nowy Sącz Voivodeship from 1975 to 1998.) It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) c ...

in 2003. During his three seasons in the European Cup, Svendsen won two races (individual and pursuit), one second place (sprint), and came third three times (all in the sprint). For his first season in the World Cup Svendsen had an 82% shooting average, making him the 42nd best shot of the tour, but the same shooting percentage as

Halvard Hanevold Halvard Hanevold (3 December 1969 – 3 September 2019) was a Norwegian biathlete. Career Hanevold won medals in biathlon events at the 1998 Winter Olympics and the 2002 Winter Olympics by winning his first Olympic gold followed by another gold ...

and

Vincent Defrasne Vincent Defrasne (born 9 March 1977) is a former French biathlete. He won a gold medal in the 12.5 km pursuit at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin and a bronze medal in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. He was also a member of th ...

. He hit 243 out of 295 targets. He shot both 82% in his prone and standing shoot, he averaged 70% in the individual, 84% in the sprint, 81% in the pursuit, 87% in the mass start, and 76% in the relay. On 13 December 2007, Svendsen took his first world cup victory, at the 20 km in Pokljuka. However, his big breakthrough came when he won two individual gold medals at the 2008 World Championships, winning both the individual and the mass start ahead of

Ole Einar Bjørndalen Ole Einar Bjørndalen () (born 27 January 1974) is a retired Norwegian professional biathlete and coach, often referred to by the nickname, the "King of Biathlon". With 13 Winter Olympic Games medals, he is second on the list of multiple medali ...

. He went on winning more victories and podiums for the rest of the season, and eventually finished third overall. The 2008/2009 season started off well for Svendsen. By placing on the podium in every of the five first races, he took the lead in the overall world cup. After the Christmas holiday however, Svendsen struggled to maintain the early season's results, and when he fell ill during the world championships and did not compete in several races, he lost the overall lead. After a couple of middle placings, he returned with a third place at the mass start event in Trondheim, and a fourth place and a victory in Khanty Mansiysk the consecutive week. Emil Hegle Svendsen Kontiolahti 2010

He won a silver medal in the 10 km sprint at the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

on the first day of men's biathlon competition and then followed it up with two gold medals in the 20 km individual and the relay event. He won 2 gold medals in

2014 Winter Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympic ...

: in mass-start and mixed relay (together with

Tiril Eckhoff Tiril Kampenhaug Eckhoff (born 21 May 1990) is a Norwegian former biathlete. Eckhoff is a two-time Olympic champion, winning the mixed relay at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics and 2022 Winter Olympics, and also won a bronze in the mass start, ...

and

Tora Berger Tora or TORA may refer to: People * Tora (given name), female given name * Tora (surname) * Tora people of Arabia and northern Africa * Torá language, an extinct language once spoken in Brazil Places * Tora, Benin, in Borgou Department * ...

). Svendsen is (185 cm) tall, and weighs 170 lb (77 kg, ) On 9 April 2018, he announced his retirement from biathlon following the 2017–2018 season.

Personal life

He has been in a relationship with Samantha Skogrand since November 2013. In January 2019 the couple became parents to a son whom they named Magnus and in July 2021 they welcomed their second child - daughter Elsa. The family resides in Oslo.

Biathlon results

All results are sourced from the

International Biathlon Union The International Biathlon Union (IBU; german: Internationale Biathlon-Union) is the international governing body of biathlon. Its headquarters were in Salzburg, Austria, until May 2020, when the Federation moved to Anif, on the outskirts of the ...

Olympic Games

''8 medals (4 gold, 3 silver, 1 bronze)'' :''*The mixed relay was added as an event in 2014.''

World Championships

''21 medals (12 gold, 6 silver, 3 bronze)'' :''*During Olympic seasons competitions are only held for those events not included in the Olympic program.''

Junior/Youth World Championships

World Cup

Individual victories

''38 victories (8 In, 11 Sp, 12 Pu, 7 MS)'' :''*Results are from UIPMB and IBU races which include the

Biathlon World Cup The Biathlon World Cup is a top-level biathlon season-long competition series. It has been held since the winter seasons of 1977–78 Biathlon World Cup, 1977–78 for men and 1982–83 Biathlon World Cup, 1982–83 for women. The women's seasons ...

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 ...

and the

Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were he ...

.''

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Svendsen, Emil Hegle 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Trondheim Norwegian male biathletes Biathletes at the 2006 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 2010 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 2014 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 2018 Winter Olympics Olympic biathletes of Norway Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2018 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in biathlon Olympic gold medalists for Norway Olympic silver medalists for Norway Olympic bronze medalists for Norway Biathlon World Championships medalists Holmenkollen Ski Festival winners Holmenkollen medalists