Francois. Let's face it. Biathon is a fringe sport outside of the Nordic Nations. We had a double Gold Medalist here in Canada (Myrian Bedard) at Lillehamer in 1994, but no one could really give a shit here. I have many friends who are biathletes. They are incredible endurance athletes and very tough mentally. When I was in the military they tried to sucker me into biathlon being an XC ski racer and all, but most of the biathlon coaches had no clue that I was one of the worst shots in my recruit class. Fortunately, I was in the air force :-).



Congrats to you French Champion.

Try some of the shooting at the biathlon site in Lake Placid next time you are there. If you use the post to support the rifle and take your time, hitting the targets isn't too bad. The athletes have no post, no time, and a HR of probably 180 when they pull up to shoot. I don't see how they hit 1 out of a 100.

Art dude. My rest pulse is at the lower end (in the 38-45) range depending on the day. Even at total rest, when I have over a second between hear beats, I could barely hit a target, forget about revving the heart up to 185 bpm in a full out sprint, coast into the range and try and hit a target. Those athletes are incredible. I have difficulty getting my run shoes on off the bike when my HR is 170 bpm or so in an Olympic tri !

It was on OLN TV a week ago, totally amazing race. I was blown away by the excellent coverage (German feed). Olympic biathletes are incredible athletes combining huge technique, Vo2 and shooting precision. I do some XC ski racing, and let me tell you, I couldn't hit the side of a barn from 30 feet with a Bazooka when I race!

I followed the entire biathlon's season and I found this is a great sport, probably because I like XCskiing, shooting and because it's very "telegenic" (spelling ? french word, I think...).

Raphaël et Liv Poirée are great athletes, as their competitors, and it's a good thing that a french athlete can succeed at the highest level with this very competitive field !

OK, I'm european and live in Europe, so I'm prone to be interested by "fringe" sports ! ;-))

I have no doubt that Biathlon is THE most exciting individual sport out there. The races are very fun to watch, especially the Pursuit and the Mass Start. Raphael does make it less interesting in the men's side because he was so dominating this year, just like Ole-Einar Bjoerndalen a couple of years ago.

Thanks to Eurosport, I've been following it for the past 10 years and it's a blast! If I lived in a country with snow, I would be into it, no doubt about it. But because of this damn weather, 18C and sunny today, I have to stick with triathlons, which yes, are not even close to biathlons in terms of sporting spectacule.



Paulo

---

-
"Yeah, no one likes a smartass, but we all like stars" - Thom Yorke


smartasscoach.tri-oeiras.com

The men's team event that was at the last World Champs with germany winning was the most exciting thing to watch on TV since who knows when. I was loling when the guy wasn't even ready with his skis when his teammate came around.

Biathlon is very viewer friendly, it did not use to be, but they changed the sport and suddenly biathlon is the most exiting winter sport. As a norwegian it makes me kind of proud that we have been against any development of winter sports, from the inclusion of winter sports in the olympics, women as participants, to change in materials for skiis, ski skating, the V-style in ski jumping and so on. Name one change in "our" winter sports - we have been against it!

---

Bent Olav Olsen, recreational triathlete?