There is no winter – without that SPORT

The best sport ever

Well it’s wintertime which seems to be more obvious this time than I have ever experienced before. Snow everywhere as far one can see and there is no end coming in the next days or weeks I believe. We can already tick one ingredient for a perfect winter off the list. The minus degrees and the darkness are here as well but today I could finally cross another important one out – maybe even the most important one for me!

I had finally time to watch my beloved BIATHLON again For the ones of you who don’t share that interest of mine I will give you some details about that fascinating sport:

Biathlon has a very old history. 5000 years ago Norwegian hunters used their skis when hunting during the snowy winters. Later on the combination of skiing and shooting was used in the military and after the 2nd world war the sport was demiliterised and opened for the general public. In 1960 Biathlon was for the first time participated at the Olympic Games. The sport has been very popular in the Scandinavian countries and Russia and since the 1990s biathlon has gained much popularity Germany as well due to the good German athletes.

The key aspect which makes the sport so interesting for me is the combination of skiing (the ski touring skis are only 5cm wide) and shooting (the rifle is 3,5 – 6 kg heavy, and in each discipline the athletes have to hit the 500m away target, when lying down 45 millimeters diameter, standing up 115 millimeters). It is very difficult to predict who will win the race because one shoot can change everything due to the penalties for not hitting the target  (e.g an extra 150m in the penalty round or even 1 min penalty time on top of the actual!)