Biathlonist ended his career after the Olympics in Korea

The first weekend of December, the new biathlon season begins. Spectators will again count the points of the Nations Cup, follow the fight for the big and small globes, and watch the yellow and red beeings pbad from hand to hand. But the performances, victories and falls of some biathlon superstars can only be described in the report. After the Olympics, a number of great athletes have traditionally ended their careers. SPORT.TUT.BY – on biathletes, whose absence on the track is not impossible to notice. Even the rivals will miss them.

Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, 44 years old

The great Norwegian is an athlete for whom the "plus" feature is most often used. He is the most successful athlete in the history of the Olympic Winter Games and the World Biathlon Championships, the oldest World Cup and Olympic Games winner in the personal race. And surely the most beloved Norwegian among the Belorussians.

In his last season, Ole Einar had to prove that he deserved a place in the training. The king entered a fair fight, but on the principle of sport often lost to younger and dashing. Bjoerndalen-biathlete has not been selected for the Olympics in Korea. However, he went to Pkhenchan as coach of the Belarussian national team and helped his wife, Darya Domracheva, to become the most titled biathlon of the Winter Games. .

After completing his career, the "great and the terrible" continues to train once a day, spends a lot of time with his family and will, in the new season, play the role of expert of the Norwegian TV channel TV2.

Daria Domracheva, 32 years old

The Belarussian biathlon prima has thought for a long time before saying at the end of June: "I leave". At 32 years old, the Minsk woman managed to obtain the title of "Hero of Belarus", to write her name in the history of the Sochi Games, to win 34 personal victories at the World Cup (not only Magdalena Forsberg) and to win the team gold medal at the Korea Olympics.

Domracheva is the main Belorussian star even beyond sport. Her grandmothers love her, mothers and fathers want her and the kids always imitate her. Daria bids farewell to biathlon to pay more attention to Xenia's daughter and her husband, Ole Einar. Now she is developing her own brand of clothes, showing her husband Belarus and seems to be living a new period of life, which is no longer measured by the fees and stages of the World Cup.

Nadezhda Scardino, 33 years old

The main sniper of the Belarusian biathlon summer said goodbye to major sports, but in the media it has become even more noticeable. Now, Nadezhda meets a team to participate in a triathlon, then takes control of a sports radio station, then declares the "top ten" of the Verona Marathon and wins the silver medal. Olympic champion Pkhenchkhana badures that the heart does not hurt without a biathlon. Another thing, the fans – without the first and second numbers of the women's team.

Emil Hegle Svendsen, 33 years old

This biathlete has spent his entire career as a Norwegian biathlon prince. It was not possible to crown Svendsen – he ended his career in one year with the "monarch" Bjoerndalen. Emil played a leading role in the victories and defeats of the Norwegian teams. He was practically the undisputed finisher of the relay race. Some of its finishers wanted to stage and show motivating videos for kids. Others, like a disaster in the Sochi relay, wanted to forget about it as soon as possible. Svendsen has never been stable and has always attracted attention. Fourcade called him his most beloved and at the same time most hated rival, the Be brothers – the king of parties and his boyfriend, who was at the origin of any movement.

Svendsen finished the Olympic season in 11th place overall. This is the worst result of Emil for all of his career. At the same time, he won three medals in Korea: two relay races in silver and a personal bronze. Svendsen decided to leave during this period, so that he was asked to stay and not be politely expelled. Now, Emil has a new stage: the Norwegian biathlon prince is preparing for the first time to become a father.

Marie Doren-Haber, age 32

This French woman entered the world of biathlon and returned to major sport in 2015, three months after the birth of a child. During the same season at the world championship in Kontiolhati, Marie Doren became, for the first time in her career, a champion twice and gained a supermaman reputation.

After the Games in Korea, where Mari became the mixed relay Olympic champion, she decided to end her career. The leader of the National Women's Team of France and the main partner of Martin Fourcade in mixes are preparing for the birth of their second child. And the five-time world champion, along with her husband, former biathlete Lois Aber, are planning to open a sports hotel near the alpine village of Corranson-en-Vercors. The first guests of the hotel, according to the athlete, will be his friends, biathletes of the France team.

Jean-Guillaume Beatrix, 30 years old

For some reason, this Frenchman was particularly enthusiastically supported by Russian-speaking fans on the highway and he responded gratefully to them in broken Russian on television. The biggest achievement of Beatrix's 30-year-old career was the bronze of the pursuit race in Sochi. He then shared the podium with Czech Ondřej Moravec and his compatriot Martin Fourcade.

After the Games in Korea, Jean-Guillaume declared that he was ending his sports career. And during the off season, it was learned that Beatrix had entered the coaching team of the Belgian National Biathlon Team. Frenchman was invited to the shooting coaching position.

Tim Burk, 36 years old

He is the first American to try the yellow jersey of the leader at the World Cup. In 2013, Tim Burke won the silver medal in pursuit of the world championship in the Czech Republic, which was his main athletic achievement. In 2014, an American married Andrea Henkel, eight-time world champion in German biathlon.

And in big sports, Tim was remembered as a fierce opponent of doping. He spoke openly in an interview with the Russian media, they say, "You have a huge pile of problems there" and in 2016, with the help of an open test of doping tests, it was suggested that Russian athletes be clean. In February 2018, the American Biathlon Federation boycotted the World Cup in Russia. Tim Burk did not go to Tyumen either, although he noted that Russian biathlon fans were his favorites.

Lowell Bailey, 37 years old

With sport, said another biathlon-doped wrestler – an American, Lowell Bailey. He is the only American to win the World Biathlon Championship. And Bailey became the world's oldest independent champion – this medal was awarded to Loella at the age of 35. Then, in 2017, an experienced runner did not hesitate to cry in front of cameras and celebrate the end of his career, Victoria.

Jaroslav Soukup, 36 years old

The two-time Sochi Games medalist ended his career in the penultimate stage of the World Cup Olympic season. Soukup bade farewell to biathlon in Holmenkollen, Norway, as the entire Czech team boycotted Tyumen 's stage and did not fly to Russia.

Veronika Novakovska, 32 years old

The top of the career of the blonde polka arrived in 2015. It was at that time that at the World Championships in Kontiolahti, Veronica climbed twice on the podium at personal races – she won the sprint of silver and the bronze of the pursuit. In 2016, biathlon temporarily suspended a career because of the birth of twins. In the spring of 2018, the polka finally decided to leave the biathlon. She announced this after a mbad start in Tyumen, where she finished penultimate.

Who else has ended his career in the offseason?

A little less famous, but still recognizable athletes also said goodbye to biathlon: German Florian GrafCanadian Julia RansomRomanian Eva TofalviFrench Colin Warsin and norwegian Hilda Fenne.

Who is taking a break in his career?

Beautiful Czech and owner of Big Crystal Globe Gabriela Koukalova not in a hurry to finish a professional career. But Gabi will miss the next season. She is based on a great sport, is engaged in art and art projects. One of the main fruits of his creative activity is the sensational autobiography "The Other". There, Gabriela does not fear the intimate details: she then remembers having danced a striptease at the bachelor party of her future husband, then she confessed that she had sent her pants to Jaromir Yagru on his birthday. In general, Gabi does not write that about sports. And recently, Koukalova made her film debut – she starred in the crime comedy "The Terrorist".

In the near future we will not see three Russians in the distance: Tatyana Akimov, Irina Uslugina and Olga Podchufarova. Akimova and Uslugina took a maternity leave, but Podchufarova suddenly realized that biathlon did not make her a happy person. "Every day gives me great pleasure, joy, no matter what I've done, unlike the last year and a half that I've spent without much pleasure"– Olga said in an interview. At the same time, the Russian woman is in no hurry to sell a rifle and burn bridges – an inner voice suggests: it's too early.

A break in his career took the Belarusian runner Alexander Dorozhko. This 27-year-old biathlete made this decision after being absent from the first team. In an interview, Dorozhko spoke in detail about the problems of our biathlon and the complex relationship with the coaching staff of the national team. Last season, Dorozhko is driven for his money. "The first two stages of January cost about 600 euros"– noted the athlete. Will he return to the big sport – while the question remains open?