History: The word biathlon comes from Greek and means "two contests," in this case cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. Like many modern sports, the biathlon has its origins in the distant past. Rock-paintings dating back to the Neolithic age (about 3000 B.C.) show hunters with bow and arrow moving on sliding timber. In Northern Europe, hunting on skis was well known, as in Northern Asia and North America. In China, "winged horses" on the feet were employed to track wildlife in snow-covered regions. In the Middle Ages, the military aspect of shooting on skis came into the foreground, and the traditional patrol race came into being (preventing today's biathlon from becoming a pure sporting event for quite some time). Since the end of the 19th century, soldiers on skis were found in Scandinavia, Russia, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In 1776, in Norway, the first biathlon competitions were organized; the competitors fired rifles while racing ahead.
The first Olympic Winter Games in Chamonix, France, included a ski patrol race. It was a demonstration sport then, and also in 1928, 1936 and 1948. It was not until 1949, however, that Sweden's proposal to include a combination of cross-country skiing and shooting in the Olympic program as an individual competition open to civilian competitors was approved. The first Olympic competition was held in 1960 in Squaw Valley, Calif., but only in the men's 20k. A men's 4x7.5km relay was added
in 1968, and a men's 10km was added in 1980.
The first women's World Cup was held in 1984 and biathlon made its first Olympic appearance in 1992. The development of the sport for women was pioneered by American Holly Beattie-Farr, who showed up at the U.S.
Olympic trials in 1979 and expressed her interest in the sport. The U.S.
team allowed Beattie-Farr to compete, and although she didn't make the
team, the movement to establish women's biathlon was under way. Anfissa Reztsova of the Unified Team won the sport's
first gold medal in the 7.5km event.
Biathlon is one of three sports in which the United States never has won
an Olympic medal (luge and nordic combined are the others). The best
U.S. individual performance at the Olympics is the 14th-place showing by John Burritt in the 20km at
the 1960 Games and Peter Karns in the 20km at the 1972 Games.
Biathlon
(1.) Skiing: Athlete heads toward range with a
pulse that can reach 150 beats per minute, slows
pace approaching range.