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WorldNet Service Installation Disk - Cybercathlon Games and Interactive Tour of Olympic Museum (1996).ISO
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00835_Field_wt10.txt.txt
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1996-06-03
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935b
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29 lines
The Biathlon is one of the
least-known and most difficult of all
Olympic events. It combines cross
country skiing and rifle shooting.
The combination of skiing and
shooting is not uncommon in
countries where military ski training
is conducted. Participants need to
ski vigorously while carrying their
rifles and ammunition on their
backs, then stop and shoot at
targets at several points along the
trail.
The event was first introduced in
the Olympics in 1960, but women
only became Olympic Biathletes for
the first time in 1992. Medals in the
men's events almost always go to
participants from Scandinavia, and
the former Soviet Union and East
Germany; many biathletes are in
fact military men. The medal story
is quite different in the women's
events, with Canadian Myriam
Beddard winning two golds in
1994, and the French taking the
first Gold in women's relay in 1992.