Sunday, February 21, 2010

Whose Idea Was It, Anyway?

I'm sitting on my couch watching the Men's 15km Biathlon (instead of studying audit...and I wonder why I am such a shitty student lately) and there's only one question that comes to mind: who the hell thought it was a good idea to combine cross-country skiing and shooting guns in the same event?

For those unfamiliar with the biathlon, essentially it is an Olympic sport that combines the crazy sport of cross-country skiing with the fundamental right of American citizens: the right to bare arms. (However, biathlon could mean any two combined athletic events: like swimming and bike riding or binge-drinking and sex). Competitors cross country ski around a course and then shoot a target, at least that is what I am gathering from watching this. Not only that, they shoot with their skis on, which seems kind of dangerous to me, but what do I know?

But how did the biathlon come to be an Olympic Sport? Who thought this would be a good event to include in the Olympic Games? I did what any decent English major would do: I wikipedia-ed it (and yes, I just turned a noun into a verb...). Here is the history of the Biathlon, according to my very, very reliable source:

"The sport has its origins in an exercise for Norwegian soldiers, as an alternative training for the military. The world's first known ski club, the Trysil Rifle and Ski Club, was formed in Norway in 1861 to promote national defence at the local level.

Called military patrol, the combination of skiing and shooting was contested at the Olympic Winter Games in 1924, and then demonstrated in 1928, 1936, and 1948, but did not regain Olympic recognition then, as the small number of competing countries disagreed on the rules (see also Governing body, below). During the mid-1950s, however, biathlon was introduced into the Russian and Swedish winter sport circuits and was widely enjoyed by the public. This newfound popularity aided the effort of having biathlon gain entry into the Winter Olympics.

The first World Championship in biathlon was held in 1958 in Austria, and in 1960 the sport was finally included in the Olympic Games. At Albertville in 1992, women were first allowed in Olympic biathlon.

The competitions from 1958 to 1965 used high-power centerfire rifle cartridges (such as .30-06, 7.62 mm NATO, etc.) before the .22LR rimfire cartridge was standardized in 1978. The ammunition was carried in a belt worn around the competitor's waist. The sole event was the men's 20 km individual, encompassing four separate ranges and firing distances of 100 m, 150 m, 200 m, and 250 m. The target distance was reduced to 150 m with the addition of the relay in 1966. The shooting range was further reduced to 50 m in 1978 with the mechanical targets making their debut at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid" (Wikipedia).

Right. I still don't get it. It seems to me that participating in cross-country skiing is in and of itself a hellacious act. I've been cross-country skiing once, and I lasted 20 minutes before I promptly threw up, took off the skis, hiked back to the cabin and proceeded to get shnockered. But combining that act with the act of shooting a rifle seems, well, like a really bad idea. Anyone else think this? I mean, best case scenario, you shoot the target, hoorah, you get to go on. Worst case scenario, you shoot someone else. Whoops, sorry. I was really tired after all that cross-country skiing.

2 comments:

  1. "as a small number of competing countries disagreed on the rules"

    One would think it's pretty straight forward

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  2. I had a friend who was a competitive Nordic skier in college. His analogy for the biathlon: "sprint for 500 meters and then stop to thread a needle." Which makes about as much sense, as an activity, as the Olympic biathlon.

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