An unusual Wierer resignation

She stops. And for a moment I actually seem to have been struck by lightning. This is a strange moment so close to the Olympic Games in Beijing. But then I delve into the reports and the all-clear is given. Not Dorothea Wierer, Italy's most successful biathlete and one of her country's best athletes ever, ended her career, but her sister Magdalena. But then I rub my eyes. At just 19 years old. She had hardly ever really appeared. There was only “Doro” and never really Magdalena. It's a shame, because usually, almost always, in biathlon it was the younger people who were slower at the beginning.

Over time, they left their older siblings behind with great regularity. The most recent case is still very topical. Johannes Thingnes Boe was born five years after his brother Tarjei and was still a young boy when Tarjei won the overall World Cup in 2011. It wasn't until a year later that Johannes started his career and really scored big at his first Junior World Championships. He won three gold medals in Kontiolahti and I can actually still remember something Tarjei said to his brother. “You have to keep an eye on him,” he said at the time. “We’re better than me.” Prominent examples And Tarjei was the best biathlete in the world. He turned out to be right, although the two brothers are still together on the cross-country ski trail and at the shooting range and also have successes together in relay races. I followed this quite closely and found that Tarjei drew strength from Thingnes' victories. The two are one heart and soul and every now and then, when time permits, they play a game of billiards together at the training camp. As I experienced in Pokljuka, there is no clear advantage for the younger or older of the two Norwegian high-flyers. For a while, Tarjei also resisted the fact that he would probably lose the family duel in biathlon in the future.

The Boe brothers have been competing in the World Cup together for many years. © APA/afp / TOBIAS SCHWARZ

It was different with the French Fourcade brothers, who were separated by four years. Simon wasn't able to maintain his lead from his previous birth for long, probably also because Martin was an exceptional athlete. Here Simon was on one side. The hard worker, not endowed with such great talent. And on the other side was the artist, the perfectionist, the perennial winner with his five Olympic gold medals and 14 world titles. Here too there was a scene that is firmly stored in my head. It was the World Championships in Ruhpolding 2012. Martin won the sprint and Simon came in fifth place with two penalties. It was heartbreaking to see how wistful Simon looked up at the award ceremony where Martin was standing in the middle with the gold medal. Simon suffered from this situation. Second place in the relay together with Martin was only a small consolation. Simon Fourcade became more and more stressed by this situation, to the point of depression.

On the other hand, Dag Björndalen, who was four years older than his ultimately legendary brother Ole-Einar, handled the situation relatively calmly, as the family changing of the guard was almost unstoppable. He was happy that he could benefit from his younger brother's extraordinary talent, as he did at the 1998 Olympic Games in Nagano, when they won the silver medal together in the relay. Dag ended his career in 2004 and now works as a trainer back home. The fact that he was always the better shooter than Ole didn't help him much against the whirlwind on the cross-country ski trail from his own family. It seems to be a good tradition in biathlon that several members of a family group always practice the sport.

All three women were active with the Horchlers from Germany. The youngest, Karoline, has become the most successful. In France the trend towards younger people continued. The eldest of the three Florent brothers, Claude, even moved to Belgium when he realized that he would have no chance against Emilien and Fabien in the strong French team. There is a big age difference between the Wierers Unfortunately, we will never know whether the seemingly coincidental trend towards younger siblings would have continued with the Wierers. However, the age difference of 12 years is quite large compared to the examples mentioned. And what's more, there's a lot of competition in the Italian team at the moment, especially in Magdalena's age group. All in all, it would have been a tough fight for Magdalena Wierer. She has now ended it early with a resignation that never had a beginning.

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An unusual Wierer resignation

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