Biathlon: These women scare me.

I've always considered myself to be an above average rifleman. I was taught to shoot by a State Bureau of Investigation agent and a former Navy man and figure with any rifle I match most people I will meet at a shooting range. As I sit in my studio running an Elon basketball game I am watching the women's biathlon.

"Taylor, I'm watching the Olympics where the women ski around and shoot at stuff," I said down my mike to my play by play guy.
"The Biathlon, yes," he said.
"Yeah, that," I said. "These women are scary good."

If you're not familiar with the Biathlon, it entails cross country skiing at the least 7.5km, and at the most 15km and shooting targets that are 45 mm (1.8 in) in diameter from the prone position and 115 mm (4.5 in) while standing at a distance of 160 ft feet. The shot its self may not seem all that daunting until you consider they are doing this with a very increased heart rate from cross country skiing and adrenalin from competition. Also of course they are trying to beat the clock.

The Biathlon started as a means for Norwegian soldiers to train and morphed into a world wide sport as it caught on in other European countries like Russian, Sweden and Austria. If it gives you an idea of how awesome these people are at their job, think about this: some of the best militaries in the world used to do this as training. Back in the 50's and 60's they used to compete with .30-06 ammunition (that's very high powered). Nowadays they use .22's which are less powerful but very accurate.

I'm not much of a skier; actually I've had only one skiing experience and one snowboarding experience and to say they were less than graceful would be an insult to ungraceful beings everywhere. Picture a drunk basset hound on roller skates and that would be me. Today in the women's 7.5 K sprint, Anastazia Kusmina from Slovakia picket up a gold medal with a time of 19:55.6. She had one penalty, which means she missed only one of her targets.

If you want to give these athletes a look, here's the schedule.

If these folks don't impress you, try reading about this guy: Simo Haya.