Biathlon at the 2002 Winter Olympics consisted of eight biathlon events. They were held at Soldier Hollow. The events began on 11 February and ended on 20 February 2002.[1] For the first time since 1992, the biathlon program expanded. A new race type, the pursuit (for both men and women) was added, the first new race type since the debut of the sprint in 1980.[2]
| Biathlon at the XIX Olympic Winter Games | |
|---|---|
 Andrea Nahrgang competing at Soldier Hollow at the 2002 Winter Olympics. | |
| Venue | Soldier Hollow |
| Dates | 9–20 February |
| No. of events | 8 |
| Competitors | 190 from 34 nations |
Medal summary
editSeven nations won medals in biathlon, with Germany winning the most (3 gold, 5 silver, 1 bronze), while Norway led the medal table with 4 gold medals. These four all involved Ole Einar Bjørndalen, who won each of the three men's individual events, as well as participating in the gold-medal winning relay team. Kati Wilhelm was the most successful athlete in the women's competition, taking two golds and a silver.
Medal table
edit| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Norway (NOR) | 4 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| 2 |  Germany (GER) | 3 | 5 | 1 | 9 |
| 3 |  Russia (RUS) | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 4 |  France (FRA) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 5 |  Sweden (SWE) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 6 |  Austria (AUT) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
 Bulgaria (BUL) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Totals (7 entries) | 8 | 8 | 8 | 24 | |
Men's events
edit| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Individual | Ole Einar Bjørndalen Norway | 51:03.3 | Frank Luck Germany | 51:39.4 | Viktor Maigourov Russia | 51:40.6 |
| Sprint | Ole Einar Bjørndalen Norway | 24:51.3 | Sven Fischer Germany | 25:20.2 | Wolfgang Perner Austria | 25:44.4 |
| Pursuit | Ole Einar Bjørndalen Norway | 32:34.6 | Raphaël Poirée France | 33:17.6 | Ricco Groß Germany | 33:30.6 |
| Relay | Norway (NOR) Halvard Hanevold Frode Andresen Egil Gjelland Ole Einar Bjørndalen | 1:23:42.3 | Germany (GER) Ricco Groß Peter Sendel Sven Fischer Frank Luck | 1:24:27.6 | France (FRA) Gilles Marguet Vincent Defrasne Julien Robert Raphaël Poirée | 1:24:36.6 |
Women's events
edit| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Individual | Andrea Henkel Germany | 47:29.1 | Liv Grete Skjelbreid-Poirée Norway | 47:37.0 | Magdalena Forsberg Sweden | 48:08.3 |
| Sprint | Kati Wilhelm Germany | 20:41.4 | Uschi Disl Germany | 20:57.0 | Magdalena Forsberg Sweden | 21:20.4 |
| Pursuit | Olga Pyleva Russia | 31:07.7 | Kati Wilhelm Germany | 31:13.0 | Irina Nikulchina Bulgaria | 31:15.8 |
| Relay | Germany (GER) Katrin Apel Uschi Disl Andrea Henkel Kati Wilhelm | 1:27:55.0 | Norway (NOR) Ann-Elen Skjelbreid Linda Tjørhom Gunn Margit Andreassen Liv Grete Skjelbreid-Poirée | 1:28:25.6 | Russia (RUS) Olga Pyleva Galina Kukleva Svetlana Ishmouratova Albina Akhatova | 1:29:19.7 |
Participating nations
editThirty-four nations sent biathletes to compete in the events. Below is a list of the competing nations; in parentheses are the number of national competitors. Chile and Croatia made their Olympic debuts in the sport, with one athlete each.
Argentina (2)
Austria (5)
Belarus (11)
Bulgaria (5)
Canada (1)
Chile (2)
China (5)
Croatia (1)
Czech Republic (10)
Estonia (4)
Finland (9)
France (10)
Great Britain (4)
Germany (11)
Greece (2)
Hungary (3)
Italy (10)
Japan (8)
Kazakhstan (2)
Kyrgyzstan (1)
South Korea (2)
Latvia (5)
Lithuania (2)
Moldova (2)
Norway (9)
Poland (5)
Romania (4)
Russia (11)
Slovenia (10)
Switzerland (4)
Slovakia (6)
Sweden (5)
Ukraine (11)
United States (8)
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Salt Lake City 2002 Official Report - Volume 1" (PDF). Salt Lake Organizing Committee. LA84 Foundation. 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 6, 2010. Retrieved February 6, 2013.
- ^ "Biathlon at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 9 June 2019.