Sven Fischer

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Sven Fischer was born April 16, 1971 in Schmalkalden in Thuringia. Is a German biathlete. 185cm (6'1"), 85kg (187lbs, 13st 5lbs). He trains with the WSV Oberhof club, and is coached by Frank Ullrich and Fritz Fischer (national coaches) and Klaus Siebert (club coach).

Contents 1 Background 2 Present day 3 Trivia 4 Olympic Winter Games 5 World Championships 6 External links

[edit] Background

His apparent talents for athletics was discovered early and already in 3rd grade he was training 3 times a week in the BSG Werkzeugkombinat sports club. In the 5th grade he became district champion of his age class.

In September 1983 the boarding school Kinder–und Jugendsportschule (KJS) accepted him on a biathlon youth scholarship. After his exam in 1989 he joined the army studying to become a sports teacher. The German reunion and the fall of the Berlin wall and subsequent unification of the East and West German armies, forced him to leave the military in 1990.

He instead started training for international sport events, but in 1989 when Fischer was 18 he had problems with both his kneecaps after a growth spurt as a youth. "I grew too fast and didn't stretch well." As a result he sat out the whole of the 1989 season and thought he might have to retire from the sport at the age of 18. However in the 1990 season when he came back he found that he had become more powerful than before his injury, and in December 1990 he celebrated his first European cup victory in sprint in Hochfilzen. One week later he participated in his first world cup relay. He was soon rewarded B–status and because of success in the German Championship in 1992 he qualified for the world cup in Pokljuka in December 1992.

In 1993 he won a World Championship gold medal in the 10km Team in Borowetz, Bulgaria and a world cup race, in sprint, in Kontiolahti, Finland 99. In 1994 he won the Olympic bronze medal in the 20k individual.

Since then Sven Fischer has been an integral part of the German biathlon team.

As of 2006, Fischer has eight biathlon victories at the Holmenkollen ski festival, three in individual (1995, 1999, 2004), two in sprint (1995, 1999), two in pursuit (2002, 2004), and one in mass start (2001).

[edit] Present day

Fischer currently lies third in the World Cup standings, 74 points behind Ole Einar Bjørndalen. He is fourth in the individual score, 56 points behind fellow countryman Michael Greis. Fischer finished the sprint season in fourth place, 24 points behind Tomasz Sikora. He is in second place in the pursuit, 28 points behind Bjørndalen, and in the mass start he is in fourth place, 33 points behind Poiree. Germany top the relay and nations cup, but the biathletes receive no extra points.

Fischer has won the World Cup on two occasions (1996/1997 & 1998/99), he's also come second twice (1993/94 & 2004/05), and third three times (1995/96, 1997/98, and 1999/00). In the 2004/2005 season Fischer lost the World Cup by only eleven points, which he most probably would have earned had he competed in the final race of the year, but he missed it because of a cold.

In the Olympics, Fischer has four gold medals, one of them in the sprint in 2006 Winter Olympics, and the other three in the relay (1994, 1998, and 2006). He also has two silver, and two bronze.

In the World Championships, Fischer has amassed six gold medals, four silver, and six bronze. Four of his gold medals are in the relay, he has one from the individual, and one from the mass start. In the sprint he has one of his silver medals (Hochfilzen 2005). He has three bronze from the pursuit (Kontiolahti 1999, Pokljuka 2001, and Hochfilzen 2005). In the mass start he has one gold (Oslo Holmenkollen 1999), two silver (Khanty-Mansiysk 2003 & Hochfilzen 2005), and one bronze (Pokljuka 2001). His remaining silver and two bronze came in the relay (silver in Ruhpolding 1996, bronzes in Borovetz 1993 & Lahti 2000).

[edit] Trivia

Fischer never wears gloves or a hat, owing it to his childhood where he would cut trees down in the winters with no hat or gloves. This somewhat macho statement possibly cost him the overwall World Cup title in the 2004/2005 season, where Fischer missed the last race through a cold and ended up lossing the overall World Cup to Ole Einar Bjørndalen by 11 points.

Fischer is married to Doreen and has a daughter named Emilia Sophie. He also has a sister named Andrea, and his brother-in-law is the great ex-biathlete Frank Luck.

When not in competition or training he works for Fiege WDZ as a clerk.

He can speak German, Norwegian, English and some Russian.

His hobbies include travelling, photography, and hunting.

In the summer of 2003 Fischer and the rest of the German team recorded a song for the World Championships called “We are on the top”.

In an Q&A interview in 2001 Fischer said his favourite food was Thuringian dumplings with roast venison, his favourite drink was water and his first car was a Trabant 600.

[edit] Olympic Winter Games

Olympic medal record
Men's biathlon
Gold	2006 Turin	10 km sprint
Gold	2006 Turin	4 x 7.5 km relay
Gold	1998 Nagano	4 x 7.5 km relay
Gold	1994 Lillehammer	4 x 7.5 km relay
Silver	2002 Salt Lake City	10 km sprint
Silver	2002 Salt Lake City	4 x 7.5 km relay
Bronze	2006 Turin	12.5 km pursuit
Bronze	1994 Lillehammer	20 km individual

Games	Individual	Sprint	Pursuit	Relay
1994 Winter Olympics	Bronze	7th	-	Gold
1998 Winter Olympics	14th	29th	-	Gold
2002 Winter Olympics	29th	Silver	12th	Silver
2006 Winter Olympics	17th	Gold	-	Gold

[edit] World Championships

Event	Individual	Sprint	Pursuit	Mass Start	Team	Relay
1993 Borowetz	DNS	20th	-	-	Gold	Bronze
1995 Antholz	DNS	26th	-	-	14th	Gold
1996 Ruhpolding	22nd	19th	-	-	6th	Silver
1997 Osrblie	5th	24th	22nd	-	-	Gold
1998 Pokljuka	-	-	4th	-	Silver	-
1999 Kontiolahti	Gold	7th	Bronze	Gold	-	4th
2000 Oslo	19th	40th	13th	13th	-	Bronze
2001 Pokljuka	11th	5th	Bronze	Bronze	-	12th
2002 Oslo	-	-	-	Silver	-	-
2003 Khanty Mansiysk	12th	11th	22nd	Silver	-	Gold
2004 Oberhof	16th	8th	23rd	11th	-	Gold
2005 Hochfilzen	Silver	Bronze	4th	Silver	-	6th

[edit] External links

• Fan page
• Holmenkollen biathlon information
• IBU Profile