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Biathlon at the Winter Olympics facts for kids

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Biathlon at the Winter Olympics
Biathlon pictogram.svg
Governing body IBU
Events 11 (men: 5; women: 5; mixed: 1)
Games
  • 1924
  • 1928
  • 1932
  • 1936
  • 1948
  • 1952
  • 1956
  • 1960
  • 1964
  • 1968
  • 1972
  • 1976
  • 1980
  • 1984
  • 1988
  • 1992
  • 1994
  • 1998
  • 2002
  • 2006
  • 2010
  • 2014
  • 2018
Note: demonstration or exhibition sport years indicated in italics
  • Medalists

Biathlon debuted at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California with the men's 20 km individual event. At the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, the men's 4 × 7.5 km relay debuted, followed by the 10 km sprint event at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. Beginning at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, women's biathlon debuted with the 15 km individual, 3 × 7.5 km relay (4 × 7.5 km during 1994–2002, and 4 × 6 km in 2006), and 7.5 km sprint. A pursuit race (12.5 km for men and 10 km for women) was included at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. The top 60 finishers of the sprint race (10 km for men and 7.5 km for women) would qualify for the pursuit event. The sprint winner starts the race, followed by each successive biathlete at the same time interval they trailed the sprint winner in that event. At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, a mass start (15 km for men and 12.5 km for women) was introduced where the top 30 biathletes from the previous four events were allowed to start together for the competition.

Military patrol

Main article: Military patrol at the Winter Olympics

Prior to the biathlon debut at the 1960 Winter Olympics, there was a military patrol event that was held at four Winter Olympic Games: 1924, 1928, 1936, and 1948. Medals were awarded for military patrol in 1924, but it was a demonstration event for the other three Winter Games. Military patrol is considered by the International Biathlon Union to be the precursor to biathlon.

Summary

Games Year Events Best Nation
1 1924 1  Switzerland
2 1928 1  Norway
3
4 1936 1  Italy
5 1948 1  Switzerland
6
7
8 1960 1  Sweden
9 1964 1  Soviet Union
10 1968 2  Soviet Union
11 1972 2  Soviet Union
12 1976 2  Soviet Union
13 1980 3  Soviet Union
14 1984 3  Norway
15 1988 3  East Germany
Games Year Events Best Nation
16 1992 6  Germany
17 1994 6  Russia
18 1998 6  Norway
19 2002 8  Norway
20 2006 10  Germany
21 2010 10  Norway
22 2014 11  Norway
23 2018 11  Germany
24 2022 11  Norway

Events

Men's

• = official event, (d) = demonstration event

Event 24 28 32 36 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 94 98 02 06 10 14 18 22 Years
Military patrol • (d) (d) (d) 4
individual (20 km) • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 17
relay (4×7.5 km) • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 15
sprint (10 km) • • • • • • • • • • • • 12
pursuit (12.5 km) • • • • • • 6
mass start (15 km) • • • • • 5
Total events 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 5 5 5 5 5

Women's

• = official event, (d) = demonstration event

Event 24 28 32 36 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 94 98 02 06 10 14 18 22 Years
individual (15 km) • • • • • • • • • 9
relay (4×6 km) • • • • • • • • • 9
sprint (7.5 km) • • • • • • • • • 9
pursuit (10 km) • • • • • • 6
mass start (12.5 km) • • • • • 5
Total events 3 3 3 4 5 5 5 5 5

Mixed

Event 24 28 32 36 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 94 98 02 06 10 14 18 22 Years
relay (4×6 km) • • • 3
Total events 1 1 1

Medal table

See also: List of Olympic medalists in biathlon

Sources (after the 2022 Winter Olympics):
Accurate as of 2022 Winter Olympics and IOC Executive Board decision of May 19, 2022 to redistribute medals in the biathlon women's 4x6km event at the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
1  Norway (NOR) 22 18 15 55
2  Germany (GER) 20 21 13 54
3  France (FRA) 12 9 11 32
4  Russia (RUS) 10 5 8 23
5  Soviet Union (URS) 9 5 5 19
6  Sweden (SWE) 6 6 6 18
7  Belarus (BLR) 4 4 3 11
8  East Germany (GDR) 3 4 4 11
9  Slovakia (SVK) 3 3 1 7
10  Unified Team (EUN) 2 2 2 6
11  Canada (CAN) 2 0 1 3
12  West Germany (FRG) 1 2 2 5
13  Ukraine (UKR) 1 1 3 5
14  Bulgaria (BUL) 1 0 1 2
15  Czech Republic (CZE) 0 4 4 8
16  Finland (FIN) 0 4 2 6
17  Austria (AUT) 0 3 3 6
18  Italy (ITA) 0 1 6 7
19  Republic of China (ROC) 0 1 3 4
20  Slovenia (SLO) 0 1 1 2
21  Kazakhstan (KAZ) 0 1 0 1
 Poland (POL) 0 1 0 1
 Switzerland (SUI) 0 1 0 1
24  Croatia (CRO) 0 0 1 1
Totals (24 entries) 96 97 95 288

Number of biathletes by nation

Nation 24 28 32 36 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 94 98 02 06 10 14 18 Years
 Andorra (AND)               1 1
 Argentina (ARG)               4 3 3 7 1 2 1 7
 Australia (AUS)               1 1 2 2 1 1 1 2 8
 Austria (AUT)               4 4 4 5 4 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 9 9 15
 Belarus (BLR)               11 9 11 10 9 10 10 8
 Belgium (BEL)               2 2
 Brazil (BRA)               1 1
 Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH)               2 1 1 3
 Bulgaria (BUL)               2 2 3 5 10 5 5 5 6 6 6 10 13
 Canada (CAN)               5 5 9 7 6 1 7 8 8 10 11
 Chile (CHI)               2 2 2
 China (CHN)               5 5 8 4 4 5 6 6 5 2 11
 Chinese Taipei (TPE)               2 1 2
 Costa Rica (CRC)               1 1
 Croatia (CRO)               1 1 2 3
 Czech Republic (CZE)               10 8 10 10 10 10 11 8
 Denmark (DEN)               1 2
 Estonia (EST)               8 9 4 4 6 9 9 6 9
 Finland (FIN)               4 4 6 5 4 6 5 5 9 9 7 9 1 4 4 8 17
 France (FRA)               4 1 6 5 5 5 4 7 10 11 10 10 9 11 12 12 17
 Germany (GER)               10 9 11 11 10 12 12 12 11
 Great Britain (GBR)               2 4 5 4 4 4 6 4 5 4 2 4 2 1 2 1 16
 Greece (GRE)               2 1 1 2 1 2 1 7
 Guam (GUM)               1 1
 Hungary (HUN)               1 5 1 9 5 5 3 2 1 1 10
 Italy (ITA)               5 4 5 5 6 10 6 6 10 10 10 10 11 14
 Japan (JPN)               2 4 4 5 4 4 4 3 2 8 8 9 2 5 6 16
 Kazakhstan (KAZ)               2 8 2 2 9 10 10 8
 Kyrgyzstan (KGZ)               1 1 1 3
 Latvia (LAT)               4 5 5 5 9 9 2 3 9
 Lithuania (LTU)               2 2 1 2 2 1 2 4 9
 Moldova (MDA)               2 2 2 4 2 1 7
 Mongolia (MGL)               4 2 2
 Norway (NOR)               3 4 5 5 4 5 5 6 12 11 9 9 10 11 12 11 17
 New Zealand (NZL)               1 2
 Poland (POL)               4 6 5 4 9 10 9 5 10 10 10 7 13
 Puerto Rico (PUR)               1 1
 Romania (ROU)               4 4 5 4 5 6 5 2 4 5 5 2 6 14
 Russia (RUS)               10 11 11 12 11 12 6
 Serbia (SRB)               1 1 2
 Slovenia (SLO)               5 6 9 10 8 8 6 7 9
 Slovakia (SVK)               6 5 6 10 10 8 10 8
 South Korea (KOR)               1 5 4 1 2 1 2 2 6 10
 Spain (ESP)               2 1 1 2 4
 Switzerland (SUI)               4 3 2 1 1 3 1 4 2 6 9 10 13
 Sweden (SWE)               4 4 5 4 4 4 5 4 10 10 8 5 6 10 5 10 17
 Ukraine (UKR)               10 10 11 10 11 11 11 8
 United States (USA)               4 4 5 4 5 6 6 5 11 9 9 8 9 9 10 10 17
NOCs no longer competing at the Winter Olympics
 Czechoslovakia (TCH)               2 5 5 4 5 5 10 7
 East Germany (GDR)               5 5 5 4 4 6 6
 Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR)               4 1
 Serbia and Montenegro (SCG)               1 1
 ROC (ROC_2020)               1
 Soviet Union (URS)               4 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 8
 Unified Team (EUN)               11 1
 United Team of Germany (EUA)               4 4 2
 West Germany (FRG)               4 2 6 6 4 5 6
 Yugoslavia (YUG)               1 6 1 4 4
Nations - - - - - - - 9 14 16 14 18 18 25 22 28 32 32 34 37 37 36 28 30 56
Biathletes - - - - - - - 30 51 72 62 74 76 95 90 196 193 183 190 204 221 216 219 212 1583
Year 24 28 32 36 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 84 88 92 94 98 02 06 10 14 18

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Biatlón en los Juegos Olímpicos para niños

  • List of Olympic venues in biathlon
  • Biathlon rifle Anschütz 1827F
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