Biathlon, Susan Dunklee and Olympic Records

My favorite Winter Olympic sport is Biathlon.  For those of you (and you are legion) who have never heard of biathlon, it is a sport that combines cross-country skiing and marksmanship.  Both men and women compete, singly and as teams.

            The sport has its roots in Norway and was a part of military training.  The reasons for this training are obvious.  If you are protecting a mountainous and snow-bound country from invaders you are going to have to travel fast and shoot straight.  It sounds so simple.  But, like so much that seems simple on the surface, there are layers of complication. 

            Imagine yourself as a competitor in this race.  You are a skier on a cross-country race.  You can cover the course in any style you wish, but your skis, poles and rifle are your only required and allowed material.   The ski’s can not be shorter than your height, minus 4 cm.  Some of the hills are up hill and you have to climb them in your skis.  Some are down hill and you get to glide, but it is a race, so up or down, you have to be as fast as you can.   But this is not a race of speed and distance alone.  Periodically (twice or four times depending on the race) you have to stop, assume a prone or standing position, and fire five shots at a mechanical target. 

            And you are not allowed to just miss a target, shrug and move on.  Every missed shot requires the competitor to either ski a, “penalty lap” of 150 meters, or have a minute added to their time.  They might also have to load an extra cartridge and retry the target.  Any way you cut it, a lost shot is lost time.  Of course, in the military situation this competition was born in, a missed shot lost you a great deal more. 

            As a biathlete you carry a small bore rifle (7.7 lbs.) excluding ammo and magazine.  The target range is 160 feet.  When firing from the prone position the target is a circle 1.8 inches in diameter.  In the standing position, the target circle is 4.5 inches—which lets you know which position is the more difficult.  Personally, I wouldn’t hit anything but the snow—because sooner or later, every bullet comes to ground. 

            My friends might be surprised that I would rather watch biathlon than any Winter Olympic event.  They know that this body does not like cold, snow or skiing.  I am also scared to death of guns.  So what is the attraction?  Discipline.  Work ethic.  Excellence for the sake of excellence.  The biathlon is pure competition.  It is won or lost by measureable results.  You can’t buy influence on a stop watch.  And it is so very, very hard.

My Dad was a marksman, I have hunters in my family, and I know that a good shot requires heartbeat control.  These athletes stress themselves aerobically in the run, and then govern their bodies to slow that heartbeat, become self aware and fire between beats.  What self control!

            Biathletes get none of the glory, glamour or hype of the high-profile competitors, but look at what they do.  On February 9, Susan Dunklee, a 27 year old from Barton, VT, finished 14^th in the women’s sprint biathlon.  This is the best finish by any American woman in this event.  How many of us are ever going to be the best at anything?  Here is a real Olympian—smart, strong, controlled, and sweet mother-of-pearl can she ski and shoot.

            The United States Biathletes are keeping the faith.