Ole Einar Bjørndalen
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Ole Einar Bjørndalen (; born 27 January 1974) is a retired Norwegian professional
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 ti ...
and coach, often referred to by the nickname, the "King of Biathlon". With 13
Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, 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 held in ...
medals, he is second on the list of multiple medalists behind
Marit Bjørgen Marit Bjørgen (born 21 March 1980) is a former Norwegian cross-country skier. She is ranked first in the all-time Cross-Country World Cup rankings with 114 individual victories. Bjørgen is also the most successful sprinter in Cross-Country Wo ...
who has won 15 medals. He is also the most successful biathlete of all time at the
Biathlon World Championships The first Biathlon World Championships (BWCH) was held in 1958, with individual and team contests for men. The original team event, Team (time), was held for the last time in 1965, to be replaced in 1966 by the team event, Relay (4 × 7.5 km) ...
, having won 45 medals. With 95 World Cup wins, Bjørndalen is ranked first all-time for career victories on 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 for men and 1982–83 for women. The women's seasons until 1986–87 season were called the European Cup, alt ...
tour. He has won the Overall World Cup title six times, in 1997–98, in 2002–03, in 2004–05, in 2005–06, in 2007–08 and in 2008–09. In 1992, he won his first career medal at the junior world championships. A year later in 1993, after winning three junior world championship titles, a medal haul only previously achieved by Sergei Tchepikov, Bjørndalen made his
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 for men and 1982–83 for women. The women's seasons until 1986–87 season were called the European Cup, alt ...
debut. His breakthrough came in 1994 when he featured on his first World Cup podium in a sprint race held in
Bad Gastein Bad Gastein ( is a spa town in the St. Johann im Pongau District. Picturesquely situated in a high valley of the Hohe Tauern mountain range, it is known for the Gastein waterfall and a variety of grand hotel buildings. Geography Bad Gastein i ...
, Austria. Bjørndalen first competed in the Olympic Games at the Lillehammer 1994 Winter Olympics, 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 Rasen-Antholz (; ) is a municipality in South Tyrol in northern Italy. Geography The municipal area stretches along the Antholz valley, a northern side valley of the larger Puster Valley. In the northeast, the Staller Saddle mountain pass, at a ...
, Italy. On 20 February 2014, Bjørndalen was elected to an eight-year term at the
International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...
's athlete commission. He resigned from this role in 2016 as he elected to continue his career.


Career

At the age of 16 Bjørndalen left home to pursue his sporting career at a sports academy in
Geilo Geilo () is a centre in the municipality of Hol, Norway, Hol in Buskerud, Buskerud county, Norway. Geilo is primarily a ski resort town, with around 2,500 inhabitants. It is situated in the valley of Hallingdal, 250 km from Oslo and 260  ...
, where he initially trained in both cross-country skiing and biathlon, although after one year there he decided to focus on the latter. In 1993, at the age of 19, Bjørndalen first came into focus by winning 3 out of 4 possible gold medals at the Junior Biathlon World Championships, which among other things led to him being chosen to represent Norway in the 1994 Olympics, at the cost of highly merited biathlete
Eirik Kvalfoss Eirik Kvalfoss (born 25 December 1959) is a Norwegian retired biathlete. Life and career He won three medals during the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo: gold in the 10 km sprint, silver in relay and bronze in the 20 km individual. In ...
. At those Games Bjørndalen's best finish was a 28th position in the
sprint Sprint may refer to: Aerospace * Spring WS202 Sprint, a Canadian aircraft design *Sprint (missile), an anti-ballistic missile Automobiles *Alfa Romeo Sprint, automobile produced by Alfa Romeo between 1976 and 1989 *Chevrolet Sprint, a rebadged v ...
. He has won the World Cup six times (1997–98, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2007–08, and 2008–09), finished second six times (1996–97, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2003–04, and 2006–07), and third once (2001–02). In his first season (1992–93) he finished 62nd, the season after, 30th and the season after that, fourth. In the 1995–96 season, he dropped down to ninth, but finished in the runner-up position in 1996–97. When winning the overall world cup in 1998, at the age of 24, he won titles at each of the three major championships in biathlon in one season – a world championship gold medal, an Olympic gold medal and the overall World Cup title. He finished second in the overall World Cup for the following three seasons and then third in 2001–02. His World Cup podium record is 179 podium finishes, 95 1st places, 53 2nd places, and 31 3rd places in the individual events. Bjørndalen has 1 World Cup victory in the team event. In relay Bjørndalen has won 37 races, he has also 21 2nd places and 14 3rd.places. In total he has 72 podium finishes in the world cup, relay event. Bjørndalen has 252 World cup podium finishes, individual, team and relay races combined in Biathlon, and 5 podium finishes in cross-country skiing World cup. In total Ole Einar Bjørndalen has 257 World cup podium finishes. When he took his 87th World Cup race victory in February 2009, he overtook
Ingemar Stenmark Jan Ingemar Stenmark (; born 18 March 1956) is a Swedish former FIS Alpine Ski World Cup, World Cup Alpine skiing, alpine ski racer. He is regarded as a legendary skier and one of the most prominent Swedish athletes ever, having won several Oly ...
as the skier with the most World Cup wins in history. Bjørndalen has won the Sprint world cup nine times in the seasons: 1994–1995, 1996–1997, 1997–1998, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2007–08 and 2008–09. Ole Einar Bjoerndalen also came 2nd in the Sprint world cup in the seasons: 2003–04 and 2005–06. Ole Einar has won Pursuit world cup five times from 1999 to 1900, 2002–03, 2005–06, 2007–08 and 2008–09. He has 2nd place in the seasons 2000–01, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2006–07 and 3rd places in 1996–97, 1998–99 and 2001–02. Bjoerndalen has been winner of the Mass start world cup five times in: 2002–03, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07 and 2007–08. He came 2nd in 2000–01, 2003–04 and 2008–09. Ole Einar Bjoerndalen was number 3 in the Mass start world cup in the season 1998–99. He has also once won the Individual distance world cup. It was in 2004–05. Bjoerndalen has also finished number 2 in the 1998–99, 2000–01, 2001–02 and 2005–06 seasons. Ole Einar also came 3rd in the 1997–98 season. He has won a total of 20 times, 13 times finished in second place and five times came in 3rd place. Overall, he has been on the podium 38 times. Bjørndalen has won the relay world cup 11 times in the seasons: 1997–98, 1999–00, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2015–16 and 2017–18. He has 6 times finished second in the world cup relay in: 1996–97, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2011–12, 2012–13 and 2014–15. Bjoerndalen also came in third place in 1998–99 and 2002–03. Altogether he has been on the podium 19 seasons in the world cup relay. Bjørndalen has won the mixed relay world cup 4 times. It happened in the seasons: 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15 and 2015–16. Bjørndalen has won (together with the Norwegian biathlon team) the nations cup ten times. It happened in the: 1998–99, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2013–14, 2014–15 and 2015–16 season. Bjørndalen has also achieved five-second places in the nations cup in the years: 1999–00, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2005–06 and 2012–13. He has finished in third place in the nations cup 3 times, in the: 1996–97, 1997–98 and 2006–07 season. In total he has finished 18 times at the podium in the nations cup for men. He is the only biathlete ever to win all biathlon events in a single Winter Olympics ( 2002 Salt Lake City Games). This encompassed the sprint, pursuit, individual, and relay events, the latter together with three other participants. He was the most successful competitor at these Games. This also made him only the third Winter Olympian to win four golds at one Games, and he was also the first biathlete to win more than two gold medals at a single Games. In addition, he had won all three competitions staged at the Olympic test event in Salt Lake City the previous year. He also took a four gold medal haul at the
Biathlon World Championships 2005 The 40th Biathlon World Championships were held in 2005 for the third time in Hochfilzen, Austria from 4 to 13 March. Approximately 80,000 spectators went to see the competitions. The mixed relay, contested for the first time in the World Champion ...
in
Hochfilzen Hochfilzen is a town and municipality in the Kitzbühel (district), Kitzbühel district of the Austrian state of Tyrol (state), Tyrol. It is located in the Pillersee valley 5 km east of Fieberbrunn. Population was 1,147 in 2016. It is a popu ...
, Austria and at the
Biathlon World Championships 2009 The 43rd Biathlon World Championships were held in Pyeongchang, South Korea from February 13 to February 22, 2009. It was the first time that the Biathlon World Championships were held in Asia (outside Asian Russia). There were a total of 11 compe ...
in
Pyeongchang Pyeongchang ( , ; in full, ''Pyeongchang-gun'' ) is a county in the province of Gangwon-do, South Korea, located in the Taebaek Mountains region. It is home to several Buddhist temples, including Woljeongsa. It is about east southeast of Seo ...
, South Korea. Bjørndalen's 95 biathlon World Cup victories and one cross-country victory is two behind of
Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann (née Kleemann, born 7 September 1966) is a German former speed skater. She is a three-time Olympic gold medallist, winning the 3000 metres in 1992 and 1998 and the 5000 metres in 1992. She won a total of eight Olympic ...
's record of 98 World Cup victories for a winter sport athlete. At the
2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics (), officially the XX Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February in Turin, Italy. This marked the second time Italy had hosted the Winter O ...
in
Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...
, Bjørndalen took three medals from five events, winning two silvers and a bronze. At the
Vancouver 2010 The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...
Winter Olympics, Bjørndalen became the most successful biathlete in Winter Olympic history by surpassing the previous record of nine career Olympic medals, which he shared with
Uschi Disl Ursula "Uschi" Disl (; born 15 November 1970) is a German former biathlete. Career During her competitive career Disl was a 19-year veteran of biathlon and was a five time olympian, with two Olympic gold medals from the 4 × 7.5 km relay ...
of Germany. He then anchored Norway to gold in the 4 × 7.5 km relay. This was the second time that Norway had won a title in this event, with the other being at the
2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 (; Gosiute dialect, Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; ; Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), were an international wi ...
(also anchored by Bjørndalen). With this victory he became the second most decorated Winter Olympian of all time and one of only two athletes to win 11 medals at the Winter Olympics. With his gold medal in 10 km sprint at the
Sochi 2014 The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (), were an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Opening ro ...
Winter Olympics, he tied fellow Norwegian
Bjørn Dæhlie Bjørn Erlend Dæhlie (born 19 June 1967) is a Norwegian businessman and retired cross-country skier. From 1992 to 1999, Dæhlie won the Nordic World Cup six times, finishing second in 1994 and 1998. Dæhlie won a total of 29 medals in the Oly ...
for most Winter Olympic medals, with 12 in total, before overtaking Dæhlie by winning his second gold of the Games as part of the Norwegian mixed relay team. Bjørndalen has won eight
Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...
gold medals, four silver and a bronze. He has also won 20
World Championship 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 ...
gold medals, 14 silver and 11 bronze (more than anybody in biathlon history), along with a record 95 World Cup victories in biathlon and 1 World Cup victory in cross-country skiing, 179 podium finishes in biathlon individual races and 3 in cross-country skiing. He also finished in the top three of the Overall World Cup rankings for a record thirteen successive seasons between the 1996–97 and 2008–09 seasons. In total Ole Einar Bjørndalen has won 44 Norwegian Championship gold medals. He has won 30 gold medals in the Norwegian Championship, biathlon, winter event: 20 individual gold medals: individual (4), sprint (6), pursuit (6), mass start (4) and 10 gold medals in relay and the team event: relay (8) and team (2). Bjørndalen has also achieved 14 individual gold medals in the Norwegian Championship, biathlon, summer event: sprint (7) and pursuit (7). In January 2018 Arne Botnan, the sporting director for Norwegian biathlon, announced that Bjørndalen would not be selected for the 2018 Winter Olympics, after he failed to achieve the qualifying standard of a top six finish in a World Cup race before the
Norwegian Biathlon Association The Norwegian Biathlon Association () (NSSF) was founded 10 December 1983 and is a Norwegian association for biathlon, and is a member of the Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports and the International Biathlon Uni ...
was due to nominate its Olympic squad on the 15th of that month. However, he did travel to the Games after being accredited as part of the Belarusian Olympic delegation as a coach, in order to support Darya Domracheva. On 3 April 2018 Bjørndalen announced his retirement from competition, explaining that his form had been affected by
heart murmur Heart murmurs are unique heart sounds produced when blood flows across a heart valve or blood vessel. This occurs when turbulent blood flow creates a sound loud enough to hear with a stethoscope. The sound differs from normal heart sounds by th ...
s several times during the previous season. In September 2019, Bjørndalen and Domracheva were appointed as head coach and women's coach respectively of the Chinese biathlon team.


2005–06 World Cup season

Bjørndalen finished the 2005–06
International Biathlon Union The International Biathlon Union (IBU; ) 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 city. It was rocked by a corruption ...
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 name is ...
season in first place, with Frenchman
Raphaël Poirée Raphaël Poirée (born 9 August 1974) is a retired French biathlete who was active from 1995 to 2007. With his 44 World Cup victories and several World Championship medals he ranks among the most successful biathletes ever. Sports career Poi ...
in second place and German
Sven Fischer Sven Fischer (born 16 April 1971) is a German former biathlete. He trained with the WSV Oberhof 05 club, and was coached by Frank Ullrich and Fritz Fischer (national coaches) and Klaus Siebert (club coach). After the 2006/07 biathlon season, ...
in third. Bjørndalen lay in third place in the standings going into the last three races of the season in
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. Etymology The name is a compound of the farm name and the ...
, with Poirée in first, and Fischer in second. However, Bjørndalen won all three races, giving him six victories in the last eight races, and clinching the crystal globe. He also won the pursuit, and the mass start title, and came second in the individual and the sprint. In the pursuit he finished ahead of Fischer by 54 points, and 29 points ahead of Poirée in the mass start. In the individual he finished 41 points behind
Michael Greis Michael Greis (; born 18 August 1976) is a German former 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. ...
, and in the sprint he was 5 points behind
Tomasz Sikora Tomasz Sikora (born 21 December 1973) is a former Poland, Polish biathlon, biathlete. Life and career Sikora was born in WodzisÅ‚aw ÅšlÄ…ski. In 1993, he finished second in 10 km sprint at the Junior World Championships in Ruhpolding. He w ...
. Norway finished fourth in the relay. Bjørndalen closed out the season by winning all three events (sprint, pursuit, and mass start) at the
Holmenkollen ski festival The Holmenkollen Ski Festival ( or ) is a traditional annual Nordic skiing event in Holmenkollen, Oslo, Norway. The full official name of the event is Holmenkollen FIS World Cup Nordic. History It takes place in March and has been arranged every ...
biathlon competition. This put his career victories at the ski events to five, having won once both in 2003 (pursuit) and in 2004 (sprint).


2006–07 World Cup season

Bjørndalen made a perfect start to the season, winning all of the first five races in
Östersund Östersund (; ) is an Urban areas in Sweden, urban area (Stad (Sweden), city) in Jämtland in northern Sweden. It is the seat of Östersund Municipality and the capital of Jämtland County. Östersund is located at the shores of Sweden's fifth-larg ...
and
Hochfilzen Hochfilzen is a town and municipality in the Kitzbühel (district), Kitzbühel district of the Austrian state of Tyrol (state), Tyrol. It is located in the Pillersee valley 5 km east of Fieberbrunn. Population was 1,147 in 2016. It is a popu ...
. In the fifth race of the season, the pursuit race in
Hochfilzen Hochfilzen is a town and municipality in the Kitzbühel (district), Kitzbühel district of the Austrian state of Tyrol (state), Tyrol. It is located in the Pillersee valley 5 km east of Fieberbrunn. Population was 1,147 in 2016. It is a popu ...
, he won with one of his largest margins ever, more than 2 minutes. On 30 December 2006 Bjørndalen took part in the Biathlon World Team Challenge in Gelsenkirchen in the Veltins Arena. In front of about 51,000 people he won it for fourth time in a row. His partner for second consecutive time was
Linda Grubben Linda Grubben (née Linda Tjørhom; 13 September 1979 in Stavanger) is a retired Norwegian biathlete. She won a silver medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics in the 4 × 7.5 km relay. She won the gold medal in the 4 x 6 km relay at the Biath ...
. They both left their rivals, the Robert family, more than one minute behind. In Oberhof, coming down from training in the heights, Bjørndalen performed below standard for the season, and finishing only 30th and 5th in the individual competitions. In Ruhpolding he led his teammates to victory in the relay event. He won the two following individual competitions. After competing in the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships Sapporo 2007, he missed several
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 for men and 1982–83 for women. The women's seasons until 1986–87 season were called the European Cup, alt ...
events; after missing eight competitions altogether Bjørndalen finished second in the overall standings, after German
Michael Greis Michael Greis (; born 18 August 1976) is a German former 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. ...
.


2008–09 World Cup season

Bjørndalen started off the season suffering from the effects of long-term illness, but still placed second in both of the pursuit events. He missed the Biathlon World Team Challenge in Gelsenkirchen, focusing on training instead. After the break, he returned with victories in both the sprint and pursuit events in Ruhpolding and a third place in the mass start in Oberhof. At the Biathlon World Championships 2009 in Pyeongchang, during the men's 12.5 km pursuit, Bjørndalen with at least 15 other competitors accidentally skied the wrong way at the start of the first lap due to the bad marking. Just after leaving the start, the athletes skied over a bridge instead of skiing beside it, which was the right way. A jury meeting decided to give all these athletes a one-minute time penalty, following a complaint from the Russian team. However, another complaint by seven other member states led to the Appeal Jury reverting to the original result. Along with Bjørndalen's first ever 20 km individual World Championship title, he won four out of six possible gold medals (10 km sprint, 12.5 km pursuit, 20 km individual and the 4 × 7.5 km relay). After the World Championships Bjørndalen came second in the sprint in Vancouver, he took over the world cup overall lead. He followed up with a second place, and two victories at the events in GranÃ¥sen, Trondheim (the latter being a mass start where he shot clean). He secured his sixth overall win in the last sprint of the season, in Khanty-Mansiysk where he placed second. In the following event (a pursuit), he was beaten at the finish line by teammate
Emil Hegle Svendsen Emil Hegle Svendsen (born 12 July 1985) is a retired Norwegian biathlete. He has won eight medals at Winter Olympics (four gold) and five individual gold medals and seven relay gold medals at World Championships. He skis with Trondhjems Skiskytt ...
, but won the pursuit cup.


Personal life

Bjørndalen grew up on a farm in , the fourth of five children: one of his siblings is fellow biathlete
Dag Bjørndalen Dag Bjørndalen (born 2 April 1970) is a former Norwegian biathlete. He is the older brother of Ole Einar Bjørndalen. His biggest triumph as a biathlete is the silver medal he won in the relay in the 1998 Olympics in Nagano (together ...
. Both brothers were part of the Norwegian team that took the silver medal in the men's relay at the 1998 Winter Olympics. Bjørndalen resides in the village of
Obertilliach Obertilliach is a municipality in the district of Lienz District, Lienz, in the Austria, Austrian state of Tyrol (state), Tyrol. Geography It is located in East Tyrol, in a high valley of the upper Gail (river), Gail River east of the Kartitsch ...
, Austria. He also used to live in
Toblach Toblach (; ) is a ''comune''/''Gemeinde'' (municipality) in South Tyrol in Northern Italy, located in the Puster Valley about northeast of the city of Bolzano, on the border with Austria. Geography As of November 30, 2010, it had a population ...
, Italy, with Italian-Belgian biathlete
Nathalie Santer Nathalie is a female given name. It is a variant of the name Natalie/ Natalia which is found in many languages, and is especially common in French and English-speaking countries. Notable people with the name include: * Nathalie (born 1979), Ita ...
. They started dating in 1998 and married on 27 May 2006. On 4 October 2012, they filed for divorce by mutual consent. In April 2016, along with announcing that he will continue his career until the
2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 Winter Olympics (), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and also known as PyeongChang 2018 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held between 9 and 25 February 2018 in Pyeongchang County, South Ko ...
in
Pyeongchang Pyeongchang ( , ; in full, ''Pyeongchang-gun'' ) is a county in the province of Gangwon-do, South Korea, located in the Taebaek Mountains region. It is home to several Buddhist temples, including Woljeongsa. It is about east southeast of Seo ...
, Bjørndalen confirmed that he was in a relationship with Belarusian biathlete
Darya Domracheva Darya Uladzimirauna Domracheva (; born 3 August 1986) is a retired Belarusian biathlete and coach who competed in the Biathlon World Cup from 2006 to 2018. She won a gold medal in the 4×6 km relay and a silver medal in the mass start comp ...
, and that she was pregnant with the couple's first child. On 7 July 2016, they married in
Sjusjøen Sjusjøen is a cross country skiing destination in the municipality of Ringsaker in Innlandet county, Norway. Situated on the mountain plateau south of Sjusjøen is Hedmarksvidda. The area is located with forest and mountain terrain about above ...
, Norway. Their daughter Xenia was born on 1 October 2016. On 3 April 2018 Bjørndalen announced his retirement from biathlon. Bjørndalen ended his Olympic career after being left off Norway's 2018 team for PyeongChang, thus ending a bid for a seventh Winter Games.


Endorsement

His close to one hundred individual World Cup wins makes Ole Bjorndalen the most winning winter sports athlete of all time. He brings the same focused intensity and spirit of victory to the brands and products who sponsor him. Ole Bjorndalen cooperates with big and renowned brands. He has been
Certina Certina S.A. is a Swiss watch brand, part of the Swatch Group, founded in Grenchen in 1888 by Adolf and Alfred Kurth. All Certina watches bear the "Swiss Made" seal of origin. Certina watches are not related to German industrial conglomera ...
's loyal ambassador since 2011, InstaForex brand ambassador since 2015. Among sports equipment brands that he promotes are
Madshus Madshus is a Norwegian ski and ski-equipment manufacturer, located at Biri in Gjøvik. The company produces cross-country skis, ski boots and poles. History Madshus is one of the world's oldest ski manufacturer. The first Madshus skis we ...
, , and Casco.


Awards and honors

Ole Einar Bjørndalen won the Aftenposten Gold Medal in 1998. He was named the
Norwegian Sportsperson of the Year Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *Norwegian language, including the two ...
in 2002 and 2014. For his accomplishments in biathlon and
cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing whereby skiers traverse snow-covered terrain without use of ski lifts or other assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreational activity; however, some still use it as a m ...
, Bjørndalen received the
Egebergs Ærespris The Egebergs Ærespris ("Honorary Prize of Egeberg") is a prize awarded to Norway, Norwegian athletes who excel in more than one sport. The prize was created by Ferdinand Julian Egeberg, and consists of a bronze statuette modelled by sculptor Magnu ...
in 2002. Bjørndalen was also awarded with the Fearnleys olympic honorary award in 2002. He was voted Best Male Athlete of 2002 by International Sports Press Association. Ole Einar Bjørndalen was nominated for Laureus World Sportsman of the Year in 2003. He came second, only lost to
Lance Armstrong Lance Edward Armstrong (''né'' Gunderson; born September 18, 1971) is an American former professional road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist. He achieved international fame for winning the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times fro ...
that year, who was later rescinded. In 2008, a nearly three meter tall bronze statue of Bjørndalen, created by sculptor Kirsten Kokkin, was erected in his hometown of Simostranda, Norway. Bjørndalen was awarded the Fair Play Mecenante Award in Castiglion in Fiorentino in Italy in 2009. Bjørndalen was elected Biathlon Athlete of the Year by AIPS Nordic Ski and Biathlon Commission in 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2009. In March 2011, he,
Michael Greis Michael Greis (; born 18 August 1976) is a German former 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. ...
and
Andrea Henkel Andrea Burke, née Henkel (born 10 December 1977) is a retired German professional biathlete and the younger sister of Manuela Henkel, a successful cross-country skier. She trained at SV Großbreitenbach. Andrea Henkel started out as a cross- ...
were awarded the Holmenkollen Medal, the first biathletes to receive the medal. In February 2014, Bjørndalen was voted Best Male Athlete of the 2014 Winter Olympics by International Sports Press Association. In November 2014, Bjørndalen was awarded Best Male Athlete of the 2014 Winter Olympics by the Association des Comités Nationaux Olympiques.


Cross-country skiing

Bjørndalen first participated in the
FIS Cross-Country World Cup The FIS Cross-Country World Cup is an annual cross-country skiing competition, arranged by the International Ski Federation (FIS) since 1981. The competition was arranged unofficially between 1973 and 1981, although it received provisional recogn ...
in
Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
in the 10 kilometre freestyle event in a small town called
Muonio Muonio (previously called ''Muonionniska''; ) is a municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. The town is located in fell-region of far northern Finland above the Arctic Circle on the country's western border with Sweden, the Muonio ( ...
in November 1998, finishing 23rd. His first podium place in the FIS Cross-Country World Cup came in
Kuopio Kuopio ( , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of North Savo. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Kuopio is approximately , while the Kuopio sub-region, sub-region has a population of approximately . It is the mos ...
25 November 2001, where he finished in 2nd place in the 10 km freestyle event. One month later he once again came in 2nd place, this time losing out to
Per Elofsson Per Eilert Elofsson (born 2 April 1977 in Röbäck, Västerbotten) is a Sweden, Swedish former cross-country skiing (sport), cross-country skier who competed from 1997 to 2004. He won a bronze medal in the 10 km + 10 km combined pursuit ...
in the 30 km freestyle mass-start event in Ramsau,
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
. On 18 November 2006 Bjørndalen made history by becoming the first male biathlete to win a FIS Cross-Country World Cup event in the Swedish town
Gällivare Gällivare (; ; or ; or ; ) is a locality and the seat of Gällivare Municipality in Norrbotten County, province of Lapland, Sweden with 8,449 inhabitants in 2010. The town was founded in the 17th century. Together with nearby towns Malmberget ...
. Bjørndalen won the 15 km freestyle event. In 2007 his countryman, and fellow biathlete
Lars Berger Lars Berger (born 1 May 1979) is a former Norwegian biathlete and cross-country skier. Life and career Fellow former biathlete Tora Berger is his sister. Berger's family moved to Lesja Municipality in Oppland county in 1985. At the age of six, ...
won the 15 km cross-country event at the World Championship in 2007. Bjørndalen has twice finished on the podium in cross-country world cup relays for Norway: first in Beitostølen in 2003, where his team finished third, and secondly in
La Clusaz La Clusaz (; , ) is an alpine commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Southeastern France. Overview Hosting a ski resort in the French Alps near the Swiss border, the commune is part of the Haute-Savo ...
in France in 2006, where Norway came in 2nd place. In total Bjørndalen has been on the podium 5 times in the Cross-Country World Cup. In addition, Bjørndalen has won
FIS FIS or fis may refer to: Science and technology * '' Fis'', an ''E. Coli'' gene * Fis phenomenon, a phenomenon in linguistics * F♯ (musical note) * Flight information service, an air traffic control service * Frame Information Structure, a S ...
events in cross-country twice. His first win was in 1997 in the 30 kilometre freestyle event in Valdres, Norway, and the second was in the 10 km freestyle event in Beitostølen, Norway in 2006. He has also two 2nd places in a
FIS FIS or fis may refer to: Science and technology * '' Fis'', an ''E. Coli'' gene * Fis phenomenon, a phenomenon in linguistics * F♯ (musical note) * Flight information service, an air traffic control service * Frame Information Structure, a S ...
-event: in the 15 km freestyle event in Misurina, Italy in 1998 and in the 10 km freestyle event at Beitostølen in 2004. In addition to this, Bjørndalen has one third place in a FIS event, in the 10 km freestyle at Beitostølen in 2001. Following his two Cross-Country World Cup podium finishes in the 2001–02 season, ahead of the
2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 (; Gosiute dialect, Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; ; Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), were an international wi ...
he stated that he was hoping to become the first competitor to take Olympic medals in both biathlon and cross-country skiing, however Bjørndalen missed out on a cross-country medal, finishing 5th in the 30 km freestyle cross-country race in Salt Lake City on 9 February 2002. He won Skarverennet in 2006 and 2007, and came in 2nd after
Petter Northug Petter Northug Jr. (born 6 January 1986) is a Norwegian former cross-country skier and double Olympic champion. He won a total of 13 World Championship and two Winter Olympic gold medals with 20 medals overall (two gold, one silver and one bron ...
in 2008.


Other victories

Ole Einar Bjørndalen won the Beach Volleyball Championship at Laguna Beach in 2001. Bjørndalen has won the World Team Challenge biathlon exhibition event in
Gelsenkirchen Gelsenkirchen (, , ; ) is the List of cities in Germany by population, 25th-most populous city of Germany and the 11th-most populous in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with 262,528 (2016) inhabitants. On the Emscher, Emscher River (a tribu ...
(held at the
Veltins-Arena Arena AufSchalke (), currently known as Veltins-Arena () for sponsorship reasons, is a retractable roof and pitch, football stadium in Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It opened on 13 August 2001, as the new home ground for FC S ...
, the home ground of football club
Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as Schalke 04 (), and abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional sports club from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its football team, w ...
) in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006. He also won a bronze together with his wife
Darya Domracheva Darya Uladzimirauna Domracheva (; born 3 August 1986) is a retired Belarusian biathlete and coach who competed in the Biathlon World Cup from 2006 to 2018. She won a gold medal in the 4×6 km relay and a silver medal in the mass start comp ...
in 2018 Ole Einar Bjørndalen finished second in the 2003 Dobbiaco-Cortina, a long-distance cross-country skiing event, (42 km) in Italy in the town of Cortina. He took his second place in the 26th edition of this prestigious event, finishing behind Italy's Costantin Pierluigi, and finishing half a second behind Pierluigi's winning time of 1 hour 43 minutes and 16.5 seconds. In 2008, Bjørndalen won the biathlon exhibition event in
Püttlingen Püttlingen () is a town in Saarland, Germany, 10 km northwest of Saarbrücken. Geography The town lies in the Köller Valley, approximately 20 km to the northwest of Saarbrücken and 5 km north of Völklingen. Going in a clockwis ...
together with
Kati Wilhelm Kati Wilhelm (; born 2 August 1976 in Schmalkalden) is a German former professional Biathlon, biathlete. Like most German biathletes she is also a member of the German Armed Forces (''Bundeswehr'') with the rank of master sergeant (''Feldwebel#B ...
. He also finished in second place in 2011 alongside
Magdalena Neuner Magdalena "Lena" Holzer (, ; born 9 February 1987) is a retired Germans, German professional biathlon, biathlete. She is the Biathlon World Championships#Multiple medallist, most successful woman of all time at Biathlon World Championships and a ...
. Bjørndalen also got a bronze in this event in 2005 together with
Nathalie Santer Nathalie is a female given name. It is a variant of the name Natalie/ Natalia which is found in many languages, and is especially common in French and English-speaking countries. Notable people with the name include: * Nathalie (born 1979), Ita ...
and in 2010 with
Sabrina Buchholz Sabrina Buchholz (born 5 March 1980 in Schmalkalden) is a German biathlete. She is the 2008 world champion in the mixed relay. Career highlights ;IBU World Championships :2008, Östersund, 1st at team relay (with Neuner / Birnbacher / Greis ...
. He won the Blink Festival in
Sandnes Sandnes () is a city and municipality in Rogaland, Norway. It lies immediately south of Stavanger, the 4th largest municipality in Norway, and together the Stavanger/Sandnes area is the third-largest urban area in Norway. The urban city of Sand ...
in 2008. In April 2016, Bjørndalen and Karin Oberhofer won the Champions Race in Tyumen, Russia.


Biathlon results

All results are sourced from the
International Biathlon Union The International Biathlon Union (IBU; ) 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 city. It was rocked by a corruption ...
.


Olympic Winter Games

''13 medals (8 gold, 4 silver, 1 bronze)'' :''*Pursuit was first added in 2002, mass start in 2006 and the mixed relay in 2014.''


World Championships

''45 medals (20 gold, 14 silver, 11 bronze)'' :''*Team was removed as an event in 1998, and pursuit was added in 1997 with mass start being added in 1999 and the mixed relay in 2005.''


Overall record

:''*Results in all IBU World Cup races.''


Junior/Youth World Championships


World Cup

:''*Pursuit was added as an event in the 1996–97 season, and mass start was added in the 1998–99 season.''


Individual victories

''95 victories (36 Sp, 37 Pu, 8 In, 14 MS)''; one victory at Winter Olympics 2014 isn't counted as a World Cup victory. :''*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 for men and 1982–83 for women. The women's seasons until 1986–87 season were called the European Cup, alt ...
,
Biathlon World Championships The first Biathlon World Championships (BWCH) was held in 1958, with individual and team contests for men. The original team event, Team (time), was held for the last time in 1965, to be replaced in 1966 by the team event, Relay (4 × 7.5 km) ...
and the
Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, 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 held in ...
.''


Victories by year


Shooting

Bjørndalen is a solid shooter, but is generally outside the top twenty marksmen. Bjørndalen finished the 2005–06 season with a shooting percentage of 84%, hitting 292 out of 345 possible targets, that placed him in 36th position for shooting accuracy. His shooting record for both prone and standing were practically identical, 146/172 in the prone and 146/173 in the standing position. In the individual disciplines, he shot 92% in the individual, 89% in the sprint, 96% in the pursuit, 93% in the mass start and 96% in the relay. In the 2004–05 season Bjørndalen was the 16th best shot with an 85% success rate, the second best Norwegian behind
Egil Gjelland Egil Gjelland (born 12 November 1973) is a Norwegian former biathlete. He is olympic champion in the biathlon relay from the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Egil Gjelland grew up in Voss, the home of many world class biathletes, and sta ...
. He hit 331 targets out of a possible 364. His prone like most biathletes was much better than his standing shoot, he hit 169/180 (92%) in the prone and 163/184 (81%) in the standing. He had an average of 88% in the individual, sprint and relay, a 91% hit rate in the mass start but only 79% in the pursuit. During his career in 1999–00 he averaged 82%, in 2000–01 78%, 2001–02 74%, 2002–03 86% and in 2003–04 he hit 80% of the targets, however in those five years his standing shoot was the same or better than his prone shoot. In comparison, his greatest rival Raphaël Poirée averaged 87% in 2004–05 and 86% in 2005–06. Nikolay Kruglov was the best shot in 2004–05 with a 91% success rate, with
Ricco Groß Ricco Groß (also spelled Gross, born 22 August 1970) is a German former biathlete. He is one of the most successful biathletes of all time at the Winter Olympics and the World Championships. Personal life He has been married to his wife Kathri ...
in second with 89%, and in 2005
Julien Robert Julien Robert (born 11 December 1974 in Grenoble) is a retired French biathlete. As a member of the French team, he won bronze at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. He also has two meda ...
was best with a 93% average and Groß again second with 91%.


Shooting statistics

Statistics sourced from the International Biathlon Union. and


Cross-country skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).


Olympic Games


World Championships


World Cup


Season standings


Individual podiums

* 1 victory – (1 ) * 3 podiums – (3 )


Team podiums

* 3 podiums – (3 )


Equipment

Bjørndalen uses
Madshus Madshus is a Norwegian ski and ski-equipment manufacturer, located at Biri in Gjøvik. The company produces cross-country skis, ski boots and poles. History Madshus is one of the world's oldest ski manufacturer. The first Madshus skis we ...
skis, boots and poles. He uses
Rottefella Rottefella is a Norwegian manufacturing company of winter sports equipment, more specifically ski bindings. The name "Rottefella" refers to the three-pin binding invented by Bror With in 1927, inspired on a couple of rat traps he had seen in ...
NNN bindings. His gloves and base layer are from Odlo, and he uses
Casco Casco may refer to: Places in the United States *Casco, Maine, a town **Casco (CDP), Maine, a census-designated place within the town *Casco Bay, a bay on the coast of Maine *Casco, Missouri, a ghost town *Casco, Wisconsin, a village *Casco (town), ...
glasses. During the off-season in 2006 Bjørndalen was testing a new ski boot that had a high heel in the
Torsby Torsby () is a locality and the seat of Torsby Municipality in Värmland County, Sweden with 4,049 inhabitants in 2010. Fortum Ski Tunnel Torsby, the world's longest ski tunnel, is located in Torsby. There is an airport located near the locali ...
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.


See also

*
List of multiple Winter Olympic medalists This page is a list of various individuals who are multiple Olympic medalists at the Winter Olympic Games. List of multiple Winter Olympic medalists This list shows only the athletes who have won ''at least eight medals'' at the Winter Olympics ...
*
List of multiple Olympic gold medalists This article lists the individuals who have won at least four gold medals at the Olympic Games or at least three gold medals in individual events. List of most Olympic gold medals over career This is a partial list of multiple Olympic gold medali ...
*
List of multiple Olympic gold medalists at a single Games This is a list of athletes who have won multiple gold medals at a single Olympic Games. List of most gold medals won at a single Olympic Games This is a list of most gold medals won in a single Olympic Games. Medals won in the 1906 Intercalated Ga ...


References


General

*All placings and results are sourced by the
International Biathlon Union The International Biathlon Union (IBU; ) 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 city. It was rocked by a corruption ...
's searchable results database: * – searchable database of all World Cup race results * – searchable database of all IBU races


Specific


External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bjorndalen, Ole Einar 1974 births Living people Sportspeople from Drammen Biathletes from Buskerud Skiers from Buskerud People from Modum Norwegian male biathletes Norwegian male cross-country skiers Biathletes at the 1994 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 1998 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 2002 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 2006 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 2010 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 2014 Winter Olympics Olympic biathletes for Norway Cross-country skiers at the 2002 Winter Olympics Olympic cross-country skiers for Norway Medalists at the 1998 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in biathlon Olympic bronze medalists for Norway Olympic silver medalists for Norway Olympic gold medalists for Norway Biathlon World Championships medalists Holmenkollen Ski Festival winners Holmenkollen medalists Norwegian International Olympic Committee members Cross-country skiing coaches Norwegian sports coaches Biathlon coaches