Raphaël Poirée (born 9 August 1974) is a retired French

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 ...

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

Poirée was born in Rives, Isère in France and like the rest of his colleagues in the French 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 ...

team, was a sport

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a Conscription, conscripted or volunteer Enlisted rank, enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, a warrant officer, or an Officer (armed forces), officer. Etymology The wo ...

. Poirée has four IBU World Cup titles (1999−00, 2000−01, 2001−02 and 2003−04). He has also come second once, in 2005−06 and third once, in the 2004−05 season. Poirée has had 103 World Cup podium finishes, 44 in first place, 39 in second, and has come third 20 times. In the

Winter Olympics 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 i ...

, Poiree has one silver and two bronze medals. At the

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 ...

however, he has seven gold medals, three silver and seven bronze. Raphaël Poirée was one of the best mass start biathletes of his time, with 9 1st places, 4 2nd places, and 3 3rd places in his World Cup career, second only to

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 ...

who got 10 1st places, 5 2nd places and 4 3rd places in the same time frame. Poirée also won 4 out of the 7 World Championship mass start races he took part in. Poirée also had five victories 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 with three mass starts (2000, 2002, and 2004), one pursuit (2004) and one individual (2007). After winning the gold medal at the

in Antholz in 2007, Poiree announced the end of his career after that World Cup season. He eventually chose to retire after the Holmenkollen World Cup meet (i.e. before the season's last WC meet, in Khanty-Mansyisk in Russia the week after); his last competition was the Mass start race on Sunday 11 March, where he finished in second place after a cm-close last sprint to the finish line against his long-time competitor

of Norway.

Personal life

He married Norwegian biathlete

Liv Grete Skjelbreid Poirée Liv Grete Skjelbreid (born 7 July 1974) from Hålandsdal, Fusa, near the city of Bergen in western Norway, is a former professional biathlete. On 20 March 2006, Liv Grete announced her retirement, effective at the end of the season which ended o ...

on 27 May 2000 in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. They first met at the 1992 Junior World Championships and began dating in 1996. They have three daughters together, Emma (born 27 January 2003), Anna (born 10 January 2007) and Lena (born 10 October 2008). They have a flat in La Chapelle-en-Vercors, France, but live mostly in Liv Grete's home village of

Hålandsdal Hålandsdal is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1903 until 1964. It encompassed the eastern part of what is now Bjørnafjorden Municipality in Ves ...

, Norway. The Poirées are the only husband and wife to win medals in the same Olympics for different nations. 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 ...

, France's Raphaël and Norway's Liv won matching silver medals in the biathlon. In July 2013, the couple announced that they were separating. In 2009, Poirée was involved in a quad-bike accident which nearly left him paralysed. One month after undergoing neck and back surgery he was released from hospital."Poiree finally leaves hospital following quad-bike crash"
Article from CTV, 26 January 2010 He speaks French, English, Norwegian and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

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 Games

''3 medals (1 silver, 2 bronze)'' :''*Pursuit was added as an event in 2002, with mass start being added in 2006.''

World Championships

''18 medals (8 gold, 3 silver, 7 bronze)'' :''*During Olympic seasons competitions are only held for those events not included in the Olympic program.'' :''**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.''

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

''44 victories (7 In, 13 Sp, 15 Pu, 9 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 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 ...

.''

References

External links

* *
"Adieu Raphael Poiree!"
– Article from biathlonworld.com 11 March 2007
Fansite of Raphael and Liv Grete Poirée

Fansite about Poirée and other French biathletes

Holmenkollen biathlon information
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poiree, Raphael 1974 births Living people Sportspeople from Isère Skiers from Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes French male biathletes French male cross-country skiers Biathletes at the 1998 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 2002 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 2006 Winter Olympics Olympic biathletes for France Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in biathlon Olympic bronze medalists for France Olympic silver medalists for France Biathlon World Championships medalists Holmenkollen Ski Festival winners 20th-century French sportsmen