Biathlon at the Winter Olympics

Biathlon debuted at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California with the men's 20 km individual event. At the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, the men's 4 × 7.5 km relay debuted, followed by the 10 km sprint event at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. Beginning at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, women's biathlon debuted with the 15 km individual, 3 × 7.5 km relay (4 × 7.5 km during 1994-2002, and 4 × 6 km in 2006), and 7.5 km sprint. A pursuit race (12.5 km for men and 10 km for women) was included at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. The top 60 finishers of the sprint race (10 km for men and 7.5 km for women) would qualify for the pursuit event. The sprint winner starts the race, followed by each successive biathlete at the same time interval they trailed the sprint winner in that event. At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, a mass start (15 km for men and 12.5 km for women) was introduced where the top 30 biathletes from the previous four events were allowed to start together for the competition.

Biathlon at the Winter Olympics
IOC Discipline Code	BTH
Governing body	IBU
Events	11 (men: 5; women: 5; mixed: 1)
Games
1924 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 Note: demonstration or exhibition sport years indicated in italics
Medalists

Military patrol

Prior to the biathlon debut at the 1960 Winter Olympics, there was a military patrol event that was held at four Winter Olympic Games: 1924, 1928, 1936, and 1948. Medals were awarded for military patrol in 1924, but it was a demonstration event for the other three Winter Games. The official website of the IOC now treats military patrol at the 1924 Games as a separate discipline, without mixing it with the sports of skiing or biathlon.^[1][2] However, the 1924 Official Report treats it as an event within the sport of skiing.^[3][4]

Military patrol is considered by the International Biathlon Union to be the precursor to biathlon.^[5]

Summary

Games Year Events Best Nation 1 1924 1   Switzerland 2 1928 1   Norway 3 4 1936 1   Italy 5 1948 1   Switzerland 6 7 8 1960 1   Sweden 9 1964 1   Soviet Union 10 1968 2   Soviet Union 11 1972 2   Soviet Union 12 1976 2   Soviet Union 13 1980 3   Soviet Union 14 1984 3   Norway 15 1988 3   East Germany

Games Year Events Best Nation 16 1992 6   Germany 17 1994 6   Russia 18 1998 6   Norway 19 2002 8   Norway 20 2006 10   Germany 21 2010 10   Norway 22 2014 11   Norway 23 2018 11   Germany 24 2022 11   Norway

Events

Men's

• = official event, (d) = demonstration event

Event	24	28	32	36	48	52	56	60	64	68	72	76	80	84	88	92	94	98	02	06	10	14	18	22	Years
Military patrol	•	(d)		(d)	(d)																				4
individual (20 km)								•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	17
relay (4×7.5 km)										•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	15
sprint (10 km)													•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	12
pursuit (12.5 km)																			•	•	•	•	•	•	6
mass start (15 km)																				•	•	•	•	•	5
Total events	1	1		1	1			1	1	2	2	2	3	3	3	3	3	3	4	5	5	5	5	5

Women's

• = official event, (d) = demonstration event

Event	24	28	32	36	48	52	56	60	64	68	72	76	80	84	88	92	94	98	02	06	10	14	18	22	Years
individual (15 km)																•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	9
relay (4×6 km) ^[6]																•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	9
sprint (7.5 km)																•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	9
pursuit (10 km)																			•	•	•	•	•	•	6
mass start (12.5 km)																				•	•	•	•	•	5
Total events																3	3	3	4	5	5	5	5	5

Mixed

Event	24	28	32	36	48	52	56	60	64	68	72	76	80	84	88	92	94	98	02	06	10	14	18	22	Years
relay (4×6 km) ^[7]																						•	•	•	3
Total events																						1	1	1

Medal table

See also: List of Olympic medalists in biathlon

Sources (after the 2022 Winter Olympics):^[8]
Accurate as of 2022 Winter Olympics and IOC Executive Board decision of May 19, 2022 to redistribute medals in the biathlon women's 4x6km event at the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Norway (NOR)	22	18	15	55
2	Germany (GER)	20	21	13	54
3	France (FRA)	12	9	11	32
4	Russia (RUS)	10	5	8	23
5	Soviet Union (URS)	9	5	5	19
6	Sweden (SWE)	6	6	6	18
7	Belarus (BLR)	4	4	3	11
8	East Germany (GDR)	3	4	4	11
9	Slovakia (SVK)	3	3	1	7
10	Unified Team (EUN)	2	2	2	6
11	Canada (CAN)	2	0	1	3
12	West Germany (FRG)	1	2	2	5
13	Ukraine (UKR)	1	1	3	5
14	Bulgaria (BUL)	1	0	1	2
15	Czech Republic (CZE)	0	4	4	8
16	Finland (FIN)	0	4	2	6
17	Austria (AUT)	0	3	3	6
18	Italy (ITA)	0	1	6	7
19	ROC	0	1	3	4
20	Slovenia (SLO)	0	1	1	2
21	Kazakhstan (KAZ)	0	1	0	1
	Poland (POL)	0	1	0	1
	Switzerland (SUI)	0	1	0	1
24	Croatia (CRO)	0	0	1	1
Totals (24 entries)		96	97	95	288

Notes

• This table does not include medals of 1924 military patrol event, that the IOC now treats as a separate discipline.
• 2 silver medals and no bronze were awarded at 2010 men's individual distance.

Number of biathletes by nation

Nation	24	28	32	36	48	52	56	60	64	68	72	76	80	84	88	92	94	98	02	06	10	14	18	22	Years
Andorra (AND)																						1			1
Argentina (ARG)													4	3	3	7	1		2	1					7
Australia (AUS)														1	1	2	2	1		1	1	2			8
Austria (AUT)									4	4		4	5	4	5	5	5	5	5	6	6	9	9	10	15
Belarus (BLR)																	11	9	11	10	9	10	10	10	8
Belgium (BEL)																							2	5	2
Brazil (BRA)																						1			1
Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH)																				2	1	1			3
Bulgaria (BUL)												2	2	3	5	10	5	5	5	6	6	6	10	8	13
Canada (CAN)										5					5	9	7	6	1	7	8	8	10	8	11
Chile (CHI)																			2	2					2
China (CHN)													5	5		8	4	4	5	6	6	5	2	8	11
Chinese Taipei (TPE)												2		1											2
Costa Rica (CRC)														1											1
Croatia (CRO)																			1	1	2				3
Czech Republic (CZE)																	10	8	10	10	10	10	11	10	8
Denmark (DEN)																					1			1	2
Estonia (EST)																8	9	4	4	6	9	9	6	8	9
Finland (FIN)								4	4	6	5	4	6	5	5	9	9	7	9	1	4	4	8	8	17
France (FRA)								4	1	6	5	5	5	4	7	10	11	10	10	9	11	12	12	12	17
Germany (GER)																10	9	11	11	10	12	12	12	11	11
Great Britain (GBR)								2	4	5	4	4	4	6	4	5	4	2	4	2	1	2	1		16
Greece (GRE)																2	1	1	2	1	2	1			7
Guam (GUM)															1										1
Hungary (HUN)								1						5	1	9	5	5	3	2	1	1			10
Italy (ITA)											5	4	5	5	6	10	6	6	10	10	10	10	11	10	14
Japan (JPN)									2	4	4	5	4	4	4	3	2	8	8	9	2	5	6	6	16
Kazakhstan (KAZ)																	2	8	2	2	9	10	10	3	8
Kyrgyzstan (KGZ)																	1	1	1						3
Latvia (LAT)																4	5	5	5	9	9	2	3	1	9
Lithuania (LTU)																2	2	1	2	2	1	2	4	5	9
Moldova (MDA)																	2	2	2	4	2	1		4	7
Mongolia (MGL)									4	2															2
Norway (NOR)								3	4	5	5	4	5	5	6	12	11	9	9	10	11	12	11	12	17
New Zealand (NZL)																					1			1	2
Poland (POL)									4	6	5	4				9	10	9	5	10	10	10	7	5	13
Puerto Rico (PUR)															1										1
Romania (ROU)									4	4	5	4		5		6	5	2	4	5	5	2	6	2	14
Russia (RUS)																	10	11	11	12	11	12			6
Serbia (SRB)																					1	1			2
Slovenia (SLO)																5	6	9	10	8	8	6	7	6	9
Slovakia (SVK)																	6	5	6	10	10	8	10	8	8
South Korea (KOR)														1	5	4		1	2	1	2	2	6	3	10
Spain (ESP)														2						1	1	2			4
Switzerland (SUI)									4			3	2	1		1	3	1	4	2	6	9	10	8	13
Sweden (SWE)								4	4	5	4	4	4	5	4	10	10	8	5	6	10	5	10	11	17
Ukraine (UKR)																	10	10	11	10	11	11	11	10	8
United States (USA)								4	4	5	4	5	6	6	5	11	9	9	8	9	9	10	10	8	17
NOCs no longer competing at the Winter Olympics
Czechoslovakia (TCH)										2	5	5	4	5	5	10									7
East Germany (GDR)										5	5	5	4	4	6										6
Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR)																							4		1
Serbia and Montenegro (SCG)																				1					1
ROC																								10	1
Soviet Union (URS)								4	4	4	4	4	4	4	5										8
Unified Team (EUN)																11									1
United Team of Germany (EUA)								4	4																2
West Germany (FRG)										4	2	6	6	4	5										6
Yugoslavia (YUG)													1	6	1	4									4
Nations	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	9	14	16	14	18	18	25	22	28	32	32	34	37	37	36	28	30	56
Biathletes	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	30	51	72	62	74	76	95	90	196	193	183	190	204	221	216	219	212	1583
Year	24	28	32	36	48	52	56	60	64	68	72	76	80	84	88	92	94	98	02	06	10	14	18	22

See also

• List of Olympic venues in biathlon
• Biathlon rifle Anschütz 1827F

References

1. "Chamonix 1924 Results". IOC. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
2. "Chamonix 1924 Military Patrol Men Results". IOC. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
3. Official Report (1924), p 646: Le Programme ... II. — Epreuves par équipes - 12. Ski : Course militaire (20 à 30 kilomètres, avec tir). (The Programme ... II. — Team events - 12. Skiing : Military Race (20 to 30 kilometres, with shooting)).
4. Official Report (1924), p 664: CONCOURS DE SKI - Jurys - COURSE MILITAIRE. (Skiing Competitions - Juries - Military Race)
5. "A Quick Look at Biathlon through the Years". International Biathlon Union - IBU. 2022-01-04. Retrieved 2023-06-28.
6. The women's relay has been contested over three different distances: 3×7.5 km (1992), 4×7.5 km (1994-2002) and 4×6 km (2006-10)
7. The mixed relay has been contested over two different distances: 2×6 km + 2×7.5 km (2014-18) and 4×6 km (2022)
8. "Olympic Analytics - Medals by Countries". olympanalyt.com. Retrieved 2022-02-20.

External links

  Media related to Biathlon at the Olympics at Wikimedia Commons