Bye-bye biathletes
March 19, 2010
Simone Hauswald, who had just won the women's sprint event at the World Cup in Oslo, told Germany's ARD television on Thursday that this would be her final season, just nine days after iconic skier Wilhelm saddened Germany by calling time on her medal-strewn career.
Three-time world champion Beck, standing beside her friend and German team-mate Hauswald, took the opportunity to announce that she, too, would be retiring at the end of the season.
"Of course we gave it a great deal of thought, but at some point the time comes to call it a day," Beck said. Hauswald said she would now be focusing on a professional career outside of skiing and on "family planning."
The retirements bring down the curtain on a hugely successful era for the three German athletes stretching back to the Salt Lake City Olympic Games in 2002.
Wilhelm led the way by becoming the most decorated female biathlete at those Games, winning gold medals in the 7.5 km sprint and the 4 x 6 km relay, and silver in the 10 km pursuit.
Little Red Riding Hood strikes gold
The biathlete, nicknamed Rotkaeppchen or Little Red Riding Hood by the German media due to her vivid red hair and the red cap she wears in competition, carried the flag for Germany at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin before going on to win her third Olympic gold medal in the 10 km pursuit as well as silver medals in the mass start and in the team relay. Her haul in Turin made her the most decorated female biathlete in Olympic history.
Wilhelm also dominated the 2005-06 World Cup season, winning six races and the overall World Cup trophy, a glorious season which ended with her being named Biathlete of the Year and German Sportswoman of the Year.
Her performance at the Vancouver Olympics last month suggested that her immense powers were on the wane and Wilhelm came away from Canada with a single bronze medal in the 4 X 6 km relay for her efforts. She announced her retirement from biathlon last week, saying that after her last race on March 27, she would leave her glittering career behind to focus on her studies.
"I have achieved everything there is to achieve," the 33-year-old German said in a statement last week. "Now is the time to leave the biathlon circuit to younger people."
While Wilhelm was collecting gold medals in Salt Lake City, Martina Beck was beginning her own rise to prominence.
Leading German ladies making way
Beck became the first German biathlete to win the women's Biathlon World Cup in the 2002-03 season. The experience gained through four successful World Cup seasons culminated in three silver medals at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin in the sprint, pursuit, and the relay.
Another two World Cup gold medals later and Beck was heading for Vancouver but her performance failed to live up to expectations and she came away with a single bronze medal in the same 4 x 6 km relay team as Kati Wilhelm and Simone Hauswald.
Hauswald meanwhile won bronze medals in the 12.5 km mass start and relay at the Vancouver winter Olympics as well as three World Cup bronze medals and one silver during a career which has spanned ten years.
Author: Nick Amies
Editor: Susan Houlton