It is appropriate to describe the 2thlons in winter with "moving like a rabbit and quiet like a virgin". Biathlon, which includes cross-country skiing and shooting, has its origins in Scandinavia and evolved from ski hunting in ancient times. Norway is the birthplace of modern mitarithlon and a traditional powerhouse. But as the project unfolded and became widespread, more and more countries began to challenge Norway. Since the first time the mainland participated in the Winter Olympics in 1980, it has sent teams to participate in biathlon. At the Beijing Winter Olympics, China qualified for 4 men and 4 women, and after 30 years, China won eight places in the event.
Competition items: 11 gold medals are easy to produce more gold kings
Although biathlon was listed as a performance event at the inaugural Chamonix Winter Olympics in 1924, it was not until the 1960 Winter Olympics in the United States that the Winter Olympics in Valley were listed as official events. The women's event was first featured at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, and the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin added a men's and women's group start event. In 2014, at the Sochi Winter Olympics, mixed relay races were added.
Landscape arrangement of the biathlon technical building
The biathlon venue of the Beijing Winter Olympics is located at the National Biathlon Center in Zhangjiakou. From February 5 to 19, a total of 11 events will be set up in the men's 10 km sprint, 20 km individual, 12.5 km chase, 15 km group departure, 4×7.5 km relay, and women's 7.5 km short distance, 15 km individual, 10 km chase, 12.5 km collective departure, 4×6 km relay and 4×6 km mixed relay, resulting in 11 gold medals. The first event on February 5 was the mixed relay, in which Norway has a strong strength, winning the mixed relay at the World Championships three times in a row, which is a big favorite to win the championship.
Among the 11 sub-events, the men's and women's pursuit and the collective departure 4 sub-events are more special events, and their qualifications will be generated after the start of the Beijing Winter Olympics. The track's competitors and starting order are based on the sprint race, and the top 60 runners in the sprint race are eligible to participate in the chase. The women's 12.5 km group start on February 19 was the final event of biathlon at the Beijing Winter Olympics. The group start event must be completed in the other 3 events, and the participants are from the 30 best performers in the previous sprint, chase and individual races.
Between the small events of the biathlon, in addition to the length of the sliding distance and the shooting method are different, the other characteristics are similar, the players can be both events, and it is easy to give birth to many gold kings.
Development pattern: Norway's hegemony has been shaken
Biathlon cross-country skiing belongs to the speed endurance type, shooting belongs to the performance accuracy type, shooting action accuracy and stability are the key elements. In addition to skating fast and shooting accurately, the biathlon requires the athlete's dynamic and static conversion ability to be extremely high.
Since the sport originated in Norway, the strongest contender for biathlon gold medals at any winter Olympics has been Norwegian athletes. Bjør Darren from Norway is known as the "King of Biathlons", and at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, he won all four gold medals except for the mixed relay, and won 8 Winter Olympic gold medals and 20 world championship gold medals in his career. His wife, Domraccheva, was a leading figure in biathlon in Belarus and won four Olympic gold medals. In 2019, the two came to China as coaches of the national training team.
Currently Norway is represented by male athlete Joo Bowie and female athlete Reseland. Born in May 1993, Yo Bowie, a three-time world cup overall winner, won the 20 km individual gold medal and two relay silver medals at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. Jo Bowie hasn't been as dominant this season as some other seasons, but still maintains a certain competitiveness.
Born in December 1990, Reseland is a "late bloomer", winning the World Cup for the first time in 2018, but her performance has improved tremendously in the following years. This season, she won the world cup points first, won 7 titles, especially in the pursuit, and won 4 gold medals.
In recent years, Sweden, Germany, France, Russia and Belarus have emerged top athletes and begun to shake Norway's supremacy. At the last PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Germany and France won three gold medals each in biathlon, Sweden had two, and the other three gold medals belonged to Norway, Belarus and the Czech Republic. In the men's event this season, France has been strong, with Fillon Mayer winning four gold medals in the pursuit, ranking first in the world cup overall points, and second place is also from France.
Biathlon is a traditional winter sport in Europe, so far, only Kazakhstan has won a silver medal in the Winter Olympics in Asian countries, and China, Japan, South Korea and other countries have not yet been able to reach the podium of the Winter Olympics.
China's current situation: Ace coaches have made significant progress in joining
As the foundation of snow sports, biathlon was held in the mainland in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and in the 1980 national ski competition, biathlon was officially listed as a competition. Since the first Winter Olympics in 1980, the mainland has sent teams to participate in biathlon competitions.
In 1998, Yu Shumei won the fifth place in the women's 7.5 km sprint at the Nagano Winter Olympics. In 2001, Yu Shumei won China's first biathlon world championship in the 12.5 km pursuit of the World Cup finals. After that, liu xianying, Kong Yingchao, Sun Ribo and other famous players emerged.
In the development of biathlon in mainland China, men's events have lagged behind women's events worldwide. In the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, the mainland won 4 men and 4 women's Olympic qualifications, in the 30 years after the 7 Winter Olympics, China only had a maximum of 1 person in the men's event, and the 1994, 1998 and 2018 Winter Olympics only qualified for the women's event.
After the successful bid for the Beijing Winter Olympics, the mainland's biathlon development ushered in a good opportunity. After a 25-year career, the "king of biathlon" Bjør Darren became the head coach of the Chinese biathlon national training team in 2019.
Affected by the epidemic, the biathlon national training team did not participate in the winter training team last season, and this season, from November 25, 2021 to January 16, 2022, they traveled to Sweden, Austria, France, Germany and other countries to participate in 6 World Cups, and the team's performance has gradually improved.
After 6 World Cup competitions, the Chinese women's team reached 2417 points in the National Cup, ranking 17th, thus qualifying for the Beijing Winter Olympics for 4. The Chinese men's team scored 1515 points, ranking 26th, although it did not qualify for the top 20, but Cheng Fangming's personal points directly won the participation seat, and the International Biathlon League took into account that the Chinese men's team performed well in this season's Olympic points competition, in addition to the previous host match, and then issued 2 participating athlete quotas to China, so that 30 years later, China once again had 4 qualifications in the men's event of the Winter Olympics.
In addition to the qualifications for the men's and women's pursuit competitions and the collective departure of the 4 sub-events need to be determined after the start of the Winter Olympic Games, in the other 7 sub-events, China has obtained the qualification to participate in the competition, maximizing the participation of the whole project. At the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, only two female players, Zhang Yan and Tang Jialin, competed. Four years later, China's biathlon has made significant progress. They are also looking forward to making great achievements at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Ole Dalin, president of the International Biathlon Federation, said that Chinese athletes have made a lot of progress in biathlon, and in this season's biathlon World Cup, Chinese athletes have achieved many good results and their achievements are improving. "I sincerely wish the Chinese athletes all the best for the Beijing Winter Olympics and good results, which will lay the foundation for the development of biathlon in China."