World-known biathlete Bjoerndalen to be coach of Belarus national team at Winter Olympics

Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, an eight-time Olympic champion in biathlon, will be ‘part of the national team of Belarus’ at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

As reported earlier, the 43-year sportsman failed to qualify for taking part in the Games as a member of the Norwegian team.

“I trained myself, but there were a few days when exercising did not seem to be a clever decision. The rest of the days I practiced little. In any case, I have not had optimal prep and intensive pre-session. And in this case one should not participate in the European Championship. In spite of everything, it is an international tournament, and I have never performed unprepared. So, I took the decision to give way to others,” Bjoerndalen commented on his refusal to show up at the European Championship.

Then he was not included in the national Olympic team of Norway to the Olympics 2018.

It was hard to reconcile to the fact that he he would not compete in the Winter Games in South Korea without him, the athlete admitted. According to Bjoerndalen, his wife Darya Domracheva, a three-time Olympic champion, and their daughter Xenia helped him cope with the situation.

On January 27, Ole Einar Bjoerndalen will turn 44 years. Since 1994, he has competed in six Winter Olympics and won 13 awards (including 8 golds). He is a 20-time world champion and six-time winner of the World Cup.

belsat.eu, following vg.no