After a stellar biathlon career, Ole Einar Bjørndalen was forced to retire due to recurring heart palpitations.
Ole Einar Bjørndalen has retired after having won eight Olympic gold medals and 20 world championship titles during his career. (Reuters pic)
OSLO: Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjørndalen has announced his retirement from the sport he dominated for over two decades.
Bjørndalen won eight Olympic gold medals and 20 world titles in a glittering career spanning 25 years.
“My motivation is unstoppable, you know that, and I feel that it (biathlon) is just as much fun today – I would have liked to have had another year, but this is my last season,” Bjørndalen told a news conference as he struggled to hold back the tears.
Known in Norway as “the King of Biathlon”, Bjørndalen thanked his family and the Norwegian people and revealed that he had several episodes of heart palpitations over the last year.
“I responded well (to treatment) and I got very good help form my medical team, but I was always trying to catch up,” he said of his final season in which he finished 43rd in the World Cup and missed out on selection for the Pyeongchang Olympics.
Bjoerndalen, 44, won 13 Olympic medals and was the most successful winter Olympian of all time until Norwegian cross-country skier Marit Bjørgen broke his record by taking her tally to 15 in Pyeongchang.
Widely regarded as one of Norway’s greatest athletes, Bjørndalen married Belarusian biathlete and fellow multiple Olympic gold medallist Darya Domracheva in 2016.
He plans to take some time off before deciding what to do next.
Comments
The views expressed in the contents are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of FMT.
Comments
lagi info di : Gosip Artis Terkini