| Biathlon at the XX Olympic Winter Games | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Venue | Cesana San Sicario |
| Dates | 11–25 February |
| No. of events | 10 |
| Competitors | 204 from 37 nations |
| Biathlon at the 2006 Winter Olympics | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Individual | men | women |
| Sprint | men | women |
| Pursuit | men | women |
| Mass start | men | women |
| Relay | men | women |
Biathlon at the2006 Winter Olympics consisted of tenbiathlon events. They were held at theCesana-San Sicario arena. The events began on 11 February and ended on 25 February 2006. Approximately 6,500 spectators were expected by the organizing committee. In these games, biathlon events were open to both men and women but they raced in different distances in their own events.[1]
Men from 28 nations and women from 27 nations qualified to participate in the events. Only seven nations in total took home medals, Germany winning the most (5 gold, 4 silver, 2 bronze). Six biathletes won 3 medals each:Albina Akhatova,Kati Wilhelm,Martina Glagow,Michael Greis,Ole Einar Bjørndalen, andSven Fischer. Greis won the most gold medals, with a total of three.[2]
The top 20 countries at theInternational Biathlon Union Nations Cup ranking of 2004–05 are permitted to pick four biathletes for each event, and five biathletes for the whole Olympics. The top five may send a sixth biathlete as a reserve. The countries seeded 21st to 28th (27th for women) may send a maximum of one biathlete. Other countries may not send biathletes unless the top 28 countries do not fill their quota. These restrictions apply to each gender, so that the countries who appear in the top 20 in both the men's and the women's list are able to send five men and five women. All entries were to have been submitted to the organizing committee by 30 January 2006.
The following table lists the 28 nations that qualified for the men's events and the 27 nations that qualified for the women's events:
| Rank | Men[3] | Women[4] | Rank | Men | Women | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Norway |  Russia | 15 |  Estonia |  Japan | |
| 2 |  Germany | Germany | 16 |  Slovenia |  Romania | |
| 3 | Russia | Norway | 17 |  United States |  Finland | |
| 4 |  France | France | 18 |  Slovakia |  Canada | |
| 5 |  Austria |  China | 19 | Canada |  Moldova | |
| 6 |  Belarus | Belarus | 20 | Japan |  Latvia | |
| 7 |  Sweden | Slovenia | 21 |  Great Britain | Sweden | |
| 8 |  Ukraine |  Czech Republic | 22 | China |  Kazakhstan | |
| 9 | Czech Republic |  Bulgaria | 23 | Kazakhstan |  Lithuania | |
| 10 |  Poland |  Italy | 24 | Bulgaria | Estonia | |
| 11 | Italy | Slovakia | 25 | Lithuania | Great Britain | |
| 12 |  Switzerland | Ukraine | 26 |  Australia |  Bosnia and Herzegovina | |
| 13 | Latvia | Poland | 27 | Romania | Austria | |
| 14 | Finland | United States | 28 |  Hungary |
Of the thirty-seven competing nations, seven of them took home all the medals. With over double the medals of any other nation, Germany ranked number one.
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Germany | 5 | 4 | 2 | 11 |
| 2 | Russia | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 3 | France | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 4 | Sweden | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | Norway | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 6 | Poland | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | Ukraine | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (7 entries) | 10 | 10 | 10 | 30 | |
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Individual details | Michael Greis Germany | 54:23.0 | Ole Einar Bjørndalen Norway | 54:39.0 | Halvard Hanevold Norway | 55:31.9 |
| Sprint details | Sven Fischer Germany | 26:11.6 | Halvard Hanevold Norway | 26:19.8 | Frode Andresen Norway | 26:31.3 |
| Pursuit details | Vincent Defrasne France | 35:20.2 | Ole Einar Bjørndalen Norway | 35:22.9 | Sven Fischer Germany | 35:35.8 |
| Mass start details | Michael Greis Germany | 47:20.0 | Tomasz Sikora Poland | 47:26.3 | Ole Einar Bjørndalen Norway | 47:32.9 |
| Relay details | Germany Ricco Groß Michael Rösch Sven Fischer Michael Greis | 1:21:51.5 | Russia Ivan Tcherezov Sergei Tchepikov Pavel Rostovtsev Nikolay Kruglov, Jr. | 1:22:12.4 | France Julien Robert Vincent Defrasne Ferréol Cannard Raphaël Poirée | 1:22:35.1 |
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Individual details | Svetlana Ishmouratova Russia | 49:24.1 | Martina Glagow Germany | 50:34.9 | Albina Akhatova Russia | 50:55.0 |
| Sprint details | Florence Baverel-Robert France | 22:31.4 | Anna Carin Olofsson Sweden | 22:33.8 | Lilia Efremova Ukraine | 22:38.0 |
| Pursuit details | Kati Wilhelm Germany | 36:43.6 | Martina Glagow Germany | 37:57.2 | Albina Akhatova Russia | 38:05.0 |
| Mass start details | Anna Carin Olofsson Sweden | 40:36.5 | Kati Wilhelm Germany | 40:55.3 | Uschi Disl Germany | 41:18.4 |
| Relay details | Russia Anna Bogaliy-Titovets Svetlana Ishmouratova Olga Zaitseva Albina Akhatova | 1:16:12.5 | Germany Martina Glagow Andrea Henkel Katrin Apel Kati Wilhelm | 1:17:03.2 | France Delphyne Peretto Florence Baverel-Robert Sylvie Becaert Sandrine Bailly | 1:18:38.7 |
Olga Pyleva of Russia originally placed second in the women's individual race, but was found to be in violation of anti-doping rules when she tested positive forcarphedon, and she was then disqualified.[5]
Thirty-seven nations qualified biathletes to compete in the events. Below is a list of the competing nations; in parentheses are the number of national competitors.
Argentina (1) Austria (6) Australia (1) Bosnia and Herzegovina (2) Belarus (10) Bulgaria (6) Canada (7)
Chile (2) China (6)
Croatia (1) Czech Republic (10)
Spain (1) Estonia (6) Finland (1) France (9) Great Britain (2) Germany (10)
Greece (1) Hungary (2) Italy (10) Japan (9) Kazakhstan (2)
South Korea (1) Latvia (9) Lithuania (2) Moldova (4) Norway (10) Poland (10) Romania (5) Russia (12)
Serbia and Montenegro (1) Slovenia (8) Switzerland (2) Slovakia (10) Sweden (6) Ukraine (10) United States (9)