In addition, Bjoerndalen remembered how the wedding ceremony took place in the summer.

"Daria is incredible"

She is very good, eats and sleeps most of the time. It's just a pleasure to be the father of this girl, says Ole Einar Bjoerndalen.

The most titled biathlete in history also continues to admire his wife.

Daria is incredible. She is at least as good a mother as a biathlete. Her life has changed a lot lately, but she's doing just fine. Ksenia eats with pleasure at night, and Daria has to take on the main load, - says Ole Einar, looking at his wife with love.

Bjoerndalen is happy with his pre-season preparation, has done most of his training work and is determined to continue to fight for medals.

We were prepared for what was about to happen, so the change did not affect me so much. I was able to conduct my workouts almost as normal with minor adjustments. The trailer, equipped with everything necessary for preparation, was also with me in Minsk. We used it for two months before the birth of our daughter. Everything I need is there. Now it has already been transferred to Norway. So everything is in place, says Bjoerndalen.

Photo: Vadim Zamirovsky, TUT.BY

Now a lot of trips await the star family. Bjoerndalen's base is in Obertilliach, Austria. They will also spend time in Minsk, where Daria Domracheva is building a house.

Secret wedding, beautiful ceremony

This spring, Ole Einar and Daria announced their relationship. In addition, they told that they were expecting a baby. To the surprise of many, the couple managed to formalize the relationship before the birth of their daughter. The ceremony took place on 7 July at an idyllic church in the mountains in Shushen (top corner in the photo).

This did not come as a surprise to us. We have been planning this for a long time and wanted to have a quiet celebration with close friends and family members in a beautiful setting. And we did it, - says Bjoerndalen.

The church is located in a place that is familiar to a Norwegian. He ran countless kilometers on the tracks in Shushen. The wedding turned out to be so secret that only a few knew about it.

The event became known more than a week later, when the couple posted a photo from the holiday, where they smile broadly at the camera.

We planned everything together to the smallest detail. Everything went exactly as we wanted. It was just perfect, but we will keep the details for ourselves, says Bjoerndalen.

"Opponents have something to fear"

Bjoerndalen has already started the winter season and is looking forward to the races of the first stage of the World Cup, which starts on 28 November in Östersund. Later, from 8 to 19 February, the championship will be held peace in Hochfilzen, and shortly before that, Ole Einar will already be 43 years old. But the biathlete really wants to go there and try to get the precious metal again.

In the piggy bank Bjoerndalen - eight Olympic gold medals and 20 medals of the highest standard of the world championships. No one in the history of biathlon can match the hero from Simostranda.

I am not aware of the number of medals. You probably know this better than me. I will gratefully accept new victories, although I know that it will not be easy to win, - he says. - There are still several weeks of intense training, so I am where I need to be.

Bjoerndalen managed to avoid illness, and this is unlikely to be good news for his rivals.

Hehe, let's hope they have something to fear. In any case, for my part, I will do my best, and let's see what this is enough for, ”he says modestly.

Bodyguards are needed only in Russia

Ole Einar is a megastar in many parts of the world with an interest in sports. One of its main sponsors is the Russian network of sports stores "Ski World".

Perhaps most of my fans are in Russia, Germany and Norway, - he says.

Only in Russia does he sometimes need bodyguards.

There I am under tremendous pressure. Obviously, biathlon is very popular and loved, but I must add that I never got into any scary situations. I need bodyguards to get from one place to another, ”says Bjoerndalen.

Domracheva hopes to return to racing in January

These days, the national biathlon team of Belarus is working at a training camp in the Norwegian Shushen. Based on its results, the line-ups for participation in the starting stages of the World Cup in Ostersund and the IBU Cup in Beitostolen will be determined.

The first stage of the 2016/2017 Biathlon World Cup starts on November 27 in Östersund mixed relay(mixed and supermix). On November 30, there will be an individual 15 km race for women, on December 1 - 20 km for men. Sprint races will take place on December 3, and the stage will end on December 4 with pursuit races.

As part of the women's team, Nadezhda Skardino, Anastasia Kinnunen (Duborezova), Nadezhda Pisareva, Irina Krivko, Anna Sola, Kristina Ilchenko, Daria Yurkevich, Maria Panfilova, Dinara Alimbekova are preparing for the season.

In Shushen, she started training on the snow and Olympic champion Daria Domracheva, who began classes in Raubichi four weeks after the birth of her daughter Xenia. Bjoerndalen was also preparing for the season there. And then the star family moved to Norway.

Domracheva and Bjoerndalen train together. Photo: facebook.com

In early November, it became known that the daughter of the famous biathlon couple would bear the father's surname.

Earlier it was reported that the Norwegian coach Roger Grubben, who at one time helped Ole Einar Bjoerndalen to achieve impressive success, will help Domracheva in preparation for the 2018 Olympics.

Domracheva hopes to return to racing in January. And if functional readiness allows, Daria expects to compete for medals at the World Championships in Hochfilzen, which will begin on February 9, 2017.

In the men's team of Belarus in Shushen, Roman Eletnov, Yuri Lyadov, Sergei Chepelin, Viktor Krivko, Maxim Vorobey, Dmitry Dyuzhev, Dmitry Abashev, Alexander Dorozhko and Sergei Bocharnikov are preparing for the new season.

Meanwhile, two months before the start of the season, the post of head coach of the Belarusian national team unexpectedly left the Russian specialist Valery Polkhovsky, who headed the team in May. The helm of the national team was urgently received by the most experienced Belarusian mentor Yuri Albers, who was previously in charge of the biathlon federation for holding international and republican competitions.

There are hardly many countries in biathlon that would refuse the help of a superstar family duo. And the legendary Norwegian himself does not hide the fact that he had many offers, including from the leading teams.

Nevertheless, Bjoerndalen and Domracheva chose ... China. The couple are inspired by the new challenge and are full of enthusiasm to develop biathlon where not everyone knows about its existence. Surely Ole Einar and Daria are motivated not only by the desire to help the Chinese comrades, but also by the very generous reward for the Asian business trip.

In Belarus, they saw betrayal in Domracheva's act.

"There is some sadness." How Domracheva lives after the end of her career

Daria is visiting the World Cup summer biathlon, travels with his family, communicates with fans and develops his own clothing line.

Chinese in winter views sports, frankly speaking, do not shine. And lack of competitive performance in medal-rich cross-country skiing and biathlon 2.5 years before winter Olympics in Beijing, local sports officials are particularly saddened. A year ago, Norwegian specialists were involved in working with skiers, and now the time has come to invite foreigners to biathlon. The choice of the Chinese side fell on famous biathlete of all times and peoples of Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, and he agreed to work only in tandem with his wife Daria Domracheva, so as not to part with his family for a long time. Ole Einar will be the head coach of the Chinese national team, and Daria will lead the women's team.

Domracheva said that the priority in her and her husband's upcoming work will be building a highly professional team and developing the potential of each athlete.

Generous offer and move to Monaco

Despite the phenomenal achievements in biathlon, neither Bjoerndalen nor Domracheva has coaching experience. It is hard to believe that the star couple will be able to bring the outsiders of the World Cup to the Olympic podium in two seasons. It seems that they themselves understand this. It's another matter if they are not faced with such a task. Working with champions of the level of Bjoerndalen and Domracheva will in any case contribute to the professional growth of Chinese biathletes, but it is difficult to expect a breakthrough. And if this does not happen, then the label of chasing money can be attached to the legends of biathlon.

The exact amount was not disclosed, but the Chinese have clearly made a very generous offer to Ole Einar and Daria. By the way, recently it became known about the couple's desire to move to Monaco, where the taxation system is simplified. Perhaps this is just a coincidence, or perhaps former athletes really plan to pay less taxes on Chinese earnings. It is highly doubtful that the cooperation between the Chinese federation and the newly minted coaches will continue after the Olympics. After the home Games, funding is likely to decline sharply, and China will no longer be able to pay for the services of the stars of the first magnitude. So, Bjoerndalen and Domracheva have only 2.5 years to complete the great Chinese miracle.

Russia is worse than China in biathlon. The World Cup showed us a harsh reality

27-year-old Chinese woman Chang was ahead of the entire Russian national team in the pursuit race, the Chinese juniors have two more gold medals. What do we have?

Domracheva is being bullied at home

In Belarus, Domracheva's decision drew a storm of criticism. People on social networks and on media sites called her act unpatriotic, accused her of chasing money, advised her to train the Belarusian team and even demanded that she be deprived of the title of “Hero of Belarus”. Daria replied that she had no offers from the Belarusian federation. At the same time, many Belarusian sports fans reacted to new job four-time Olympic champion with understanding and wished good luck.

Interestingly, in Norway, it never occurred to anyone to criticize Bjoerndalen. On the contrary, they hope that in China, Ole Einar will receive good coaching experience, which he will then apply to the benefit Norwegian biathlon... And no one blames the desire to earn a titled biathlete.

If only it was not awkward

The Summer Biathlon World Championship in Belarus has shown that the Chinese national team, especially the women's team, has potential. And Domracheva and Bjoerndalen for long years careers have accumulated a wealth of experience that will help Chinese biathletes to become leaders. Who knows, maybe China will be the first point in the big coaching career star family contract. But so far it seems that the benefits of Domracheva and Bjoerndalen from this cooperation will be more tangible than that of the Chinese side.

If only the big champions would not later have to remember about working in China with a feeling of awkwardness.

Eight-time Olympic champion Ole Einar Bjoerndalen, to whom the prima of the Belarusian biathlon Daria Domracheva gave birth to her daughter Ksenia on October 1, told Se og Hør about how the two stars and their baby are preparing for the new winter season. In addition, Bjoerndalen recalled how the wedding ceremony took place in the summer..

"Daria is incredible"

- She is very good, eats and sleeps most of the time. It's just a pleasure to be the father of this girl, says Ole Einar Bjoerndalen.

The most titled biathlete in history also continues to admire his wife.

- Daria is incredible. She is at least as good a mother as a biathlete. Her life has changed a lot lately, but she's doing just fine. Ksenia eats with pleasure at night, and Daria has to take on the main load, - says Ole Einar, looking at his wife with love.

Bjoerndalen is happy with his pre-season preparation, has done most of his training work and is determined to continue to fight for medals.

- We were ready for what was about to happen, so the changes did not affect me so much. I was able to conduct my workouts almost as normal with minor adjustments. The trailer, equipped with everything necessary for preparation, was also with me in Minsk. We used it for two months before the birth of our daughter. Everything I need is there. Now it has already been transferred to Norway. So everything is in place, says Bjoerndalen.

Now a lot of trips await the star family. Bjoerndalen's base is in Obertilliach, Austria. They will also spend time in Minsk, where Daria is building a house.

Secret wedding, beautiful ceremony

This spring, Ole Einar and Daria announced their relationship. In addition, they told that they were expecting a baby. To the surprise of many, the couple managed to formalize the relationship before the birth of their daughter. The ceremony took place on 7 July in an idyllic church in the mountains in Shushen ( in the upper corner in the photo).

- It was not a surprise for us. We have been planning this for a long time and wanted to have a quiet celebration with close friends and family members in a beautiful setting. And we did it, - says Bjoerndalen.

The church is located in a place that is familiar to a Norwegian. He ran countless kilometers on the tracks in Shushen. The wedding turned out to be so secret that only a few knew about it.

The event became known more than a week later, when the couple posted a photo from the holiday, where they smile broadly at the camera.

- We planned everything together to the smallest detail. Everything went exactly as we wanted. It was just perfect, but we will keep the details for ourselves, says Bjoerndalen.

"Opponents have something to fear"

Bjoerndalen has already started the winter season and is looking forward to the races of the first stage of the World Cup, which starts on 28 November in Östersund. Later, from 8 to 19 February, the World Championships will be held in Hochfilzen, and not long before that, Ole Einar will be 43 years old. But the biathlete really wants to go there and try to get the precious metal again.

In the piggy bank Bjoerndalen - eight Olympic gold medals and 20 medals of the highest standard of the world championships. No one in the history of biathlon can match the hero from Simostranda.

- I am not aware of the number of medals. You probably know this better than me. I will gratefully accept new victories, although I know that it will not be easy to win, - he says. - There are still several weeks of intense training, so I am where I need to be.

Bjoerndalen managed to avoid illness, and this is unlikely to be good news for his rivals.

- Hehe, let's hope they have something to fear. In any case, for my part, I will do my best, and let's see what this is enough for, ”he says modestly.

Bodyguards are needed only in Russia

Ole Einar is a megastar in many parts of the world with an interest in sports. One of its main sponsors is the Russian network of sports stores "Ski World".

- Perhaps most of all my fans are in Russia, Germany and Norway, - he says.

Only in Russia does he sometimes need bodyguards.

“I’m under tremendous pressure there. Obviously, biathlon is very popular and loved, but I must add that I never got into any scary situations. I need bodyguards to get from one place to another, ”says Bjoerndalen.

Domracheva hopes to return to racing in January

These days, the national biathlon team of Belarus is working at a training camp in the Norwegian Shushen. Based on its results, the line-ups for participation in the starting stages of the World Cup in Ostersund and the IBU Cup in Beitostolen will be determined.

The first stage of the 2016/2017 Biathlon World Cup starts on November 27 in Östersund with mixed relay races (mixed and super mixed). On November 30, there will be an individual 15 km race for women, on December 1 - 20 km for men. Sprint races will take place on December 3, and the stage will end on December 4 with pursuit races.

As part of women's team Nadezhda Skardino, Anastasia Kinnunen (Duborezova), Nadezhda Pisareva, Irina Krivko, Anna Sola, Kristina Ilchenko, Daria Yurkevich, Maria Panfilova, Dinara Alimbekova are preparing for the season.

In Shushen, the three-time Olympic champion Daria Domracheva started, who started four weeks after her daughter Xenia. Bjoerndalen was also preparing for the season there. And then the star family moved to Norway.

Domracheva and Bjoerndalen train together. Photo: facebook.com

In early November, that the daughter of the famous biathlon couple will bear the father's surname.

Earlier it was reported that Domracheva will be helping in preparation for the 2018 Olympics, who at one time helped Ole Einar Bjoerndalen to achieve impressive success.

Domracheva hopes to return to racing in January. And if functional readiness allows, Daria expects to compete for medals at the World Championships in Hochfilzen, which will begin on February 9, 2017.

V male team Roman Eletnov, Yuri Lyadov, Vladimir Chepelin, Viktor Krivko, Maxim Vorobey, Dmitry Dyuzhev, Dmitry Abashev, Alexander Dorozhko and Sergey Bocharnikov are preparing for the new season in Belarus in Shushen.

Meanwhile, two months before the start of the season, the post of the head coach of the national team of Belarus Russian specialist Valery Polkhovsky who took over the team in May. The helm of the national team was urgently received by the most experienced Belarusian coach Yuri Albers, before that he was responsible in the biathlon federation for holding international and republican competitions.

Yesterday in Oslo, Ole Einar Bjoerndalen gave a retirement party. There were 230 guests at the party. Most of all, the guests of the evening and the fans remembered their hot dance with Daria Domracheva. Russian commentator Dmitry Guberniev filmed it and posted it online.

The athlete explained such a number of guests by his desire to thank everyone and referred to the fact that he had not had a normal party for a long time, since before his thoughts were always busy with performances.

According to Bjoerndalen, he invited everyone who played a role in the athlete's career: coaches, sports friends and even drivers.

There were also his two brothers and two sisters with children, but Ksenia's daughter was not at the party: too noisy an event for a little girl.

Among the famous Belarusian athletes at the party were Nadezhda Skardino, Nadezhda Pisareva and Anastasia Kinnunen (Duborezova).

The highlight of the program was the bright dance of two athletes, which hit the network and has already collected hundreds of thousands of views.

Regarding whether Daria Domracheva will continue her career, Bjoerndalen replies that the decision has not been made. He hopes that it will be determined within a couple of weeks.

Quick contact with the editors: read the Onliner public chat and write to us on Viber!

"The worst thing is the first victory"

The most titled sports couple in the world - Daria Domracheva and Ole Ainar Bjoerndalen - claim that for the highest results no doping needed

Ole Ainar Bjoerndalen and Daria Domracheva biathletes, multiple world and Olympic champions / Andrey Gordeev / Vedomosti

Doping does not improve athletic performance - the same can be achieved by persistent, consistent hard work, according to eight-time Olympic and 20-time world champion Ole Einar Bjoerndalen and his wife, three-time Olympic and two-time world champion Daria Domracheva. Vedomosti was interviewed by them back in November, but it comes out at the very moment when the doping topic in Russia sounds especially loud.

What other than hard work? - Certainly not a feast. Daria all lights up when she starts talking about dancing! And Ole Einar Bjoerndalen brightens up a little when it comes to cars.

- We are sitting in Porsche. When driving a car, you need to restrain yourself and not exceed the speed. And in the biathlon race, on the contrary, give all the best. The ability to manage oneself, one's desires when a person is already mature is understandable. How did you cope with not being distracted by pleasant things in childhood and adolescence? And the second question: during training as a child, have you already dreamed of Olympic gold, gold of the world championship? Or did you just enjoy skiing and rifle shooting?

Daria: You say that when driving a car, you must definitely restrain yourself, observe the speed limit, and so on. But there is shooting in biathlon - and it obliges you to restrain yourself. It is important to find the switch lever in yourself to switch from a hot racing state to a completely cold one for shooting - and then instantly back to maximum speed... In childhood, every child and adolescent is faced with temptations: to dance more often and longer at the disco, to take a walk with friends. But, perhaps, it is precisely self-control that distinguishes those children who achieve success in the future. As a child, my friends constantly tried to urge me: "Come on, what do you need this training for, let's go for a walk."

- Did they train with you too?

Daria: No, we didn't train, we studied in the same class. But even in my thoughts there was no opportunity to miss a workout. So after a while they also realized that it was useless to persuade, and began to make fun of themselves: "Let's see how Dasha will soon become a champion, and we ..."

We still communicate with these girls, they have become wonderful mothers, both have received an excellent education, each develops in its own field, and, of course, they also achieve success, maybe not world-class, but they are unambiguously realized. That is, it is not the most important thing in life - to become a champion, but if you set a goal for yourself, then it is important to limit yourself in something.

- At that moment you thought: "I will be a champion"?

Daria: Self-control and goal setting are already in childhood, probably, and give the opportunity to then achieve this goal. When I was six and I just got on skis, my parents and I came to ski base- senior athletes in beautiful racing ski suits seemed incredible champions to me! I wanted to feel the same feeling of skiing. Probably, in the first year of classes, I already realized that I wanted to be the world champion. For some reason about Olympic medals there was no thought. And at every hard workout, at every difficult section of the training track, I thought over in my mind: if I hit this climb, I’ll become a world champion. This is such a small momentary overcoming of oneself, small steps, small grains, which later add up to a big picture and an opportunity to achieve big goals.

- Is this overcoming for you a reward?

Daria: Yes, even during training you feel like a champion. After all, the path to achieving any goal is often even more beautiful than the very moment of owning this award. A tremendous path of character building, which becomes an invaluable lesson for a lifetime. Although, of course, if this path did not lead to the achievement of the goal, it can lose its charm in many ways.

Ole: I started my career quite early - I was about eight or seven years old. I started not with biathlon, but with cross-country skiing, because everyone in the district was engaged in cross-country skiing. I shot very badly, so then, when I came to biathlon, the first thing I had to do was run a lot of penalty loops for poor shooting.

- Why then did you go to biathlon and not stay in skiing?

Ole: For several reasons. One of them is my older brother, who was involved in biathlon, thanks to him I also fell in love with this sport. My brother is four years older than me, he participated in the youth world championships and was even one of the seven leading biathletes of his age. Ahead of him, that is, from 1st to 6th places, are representatives of only two countries - Russia and Germany. I asked him to find out why Russians and Germans can achieve such success. I also wanted to learn this and beat them. In the end, I succeeded.

- Have you dreamed of becoming a champion since childhood?

Ole: Yes, as a child I wanted to become a world champion or Olympic champion... I was 12 years old when I set myself this goal, my plan matured, and I began to work on it. I understood that for this you need to be smarter and better, and the plan must be much more reliable than others. Others are also trying to achieve this goal. To be honest, I had distractions at the time. For example, I know that in Russia they can drink alcohol, and in our country they also drink it actively. At the age of 12, I tried and got drunk, and the next morning I realized that I could not go to training. But this does not correspond to the goal that I set for myself - to become an Olympic champion. Since then, when friends invited to parties, I came, but did not use. My refusal to drink alcohol persisted for many years - I still do not drink it.

- So what did you learn about the Russians and the Germans?

Ole: My brother gave me a simple answer: they just train more and better. In Germany and Russia, there were sports schools, where children from the age of 12 began to professionally not even train, but to work. In Norway, this approach began only at the age of 16-17. In general, the volume of training in us, in Norway, and in Russia, and in Germany was about the same, but in Russia and Germany, a specialized emphasis on biathlon was made very early. Then I made a choice for myself that I want to train in the same way as the Russians and the Germans. To begin with, I began to train before school - did the first workout until eight in the morning. True, a week later my mother got a call from school with a complaint that her son was falling asleep in the classroom. This was the end of my morning training saga. Then I just found out how much and when the Germans, Russians and Norwegians train. The Germans train five days a week, two workouts a day. I had one workout on weekdays and two more on weekends, that is, a total of nine. It turns out that the difference was in one workout. I realized that I needed to catch up and switched to a new schedule - no alcohol. So the recipe is simple: I was completely focused on my goal and completely gave up alcohol.

- Continuing the theme of motivation. You both set a goal for yourself as a child - and eventually achieved it. But now you become world champion, here is yours olympic gold... How to continue to force yourself to work? You have won everything you can, you are head and shoulders above all rivals. How do you force yourself to go to training every day and with what mindset to go to the race?

Ole: I've always been motivated. I know that for many people this question arises: “I became the world champion, won Olympic Games and now what? " And all the time I wanted to be even better at the very moment when I became the best. For example, after winning the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, on the plane, I was already thinking about a training plan for the next four-year cycle. I was bored just to win - and that's it, it wasn't enough. The most difficult and, probably, the most terrible thing is to win the first time. But as soon as you win the first time, you want to win more, find new ways to win. Victory after victory is like a drug that is very difficult to give up. But on this path, you want to go further every time. At least I wanted to.

Daria: For me, the very path to achieving the goal is the most vivid sensations that give the most pleasure. Of course, not only the awareness of yourself as a champion makes you stay in sports, but it is these daily sensations, daily victories over yourself, over your weaknesses, over temptations that make sports so attractive. A great love for what you do also makes you move forward, grow and improve. As Ole already correctly noted, it is probably impossible to achieve success in any business without love, and if you really love your business, sooner or later success will come to you. You ask how to stay motivated when you already understand that you are at the very top and there is no one cooler than you. It is these thoughts that are important to avoid. Those athletes who admit such a thought, put themselves on a pedestal, chop off all further paths for development. As soon as you stop and think: "everyone else cannot compare with me" - progress turns in the other direction. I never had such thoughts in my head. I have always understood that athletes who compete with me at a distance can do a job better than me at any moment.

Photo gallery

- Athletes have to give up a large number temptations. What was the biggest temptation you gave up while you were an athlete? And which one do you allow yourself now?

Daria: In fact, giving up temptations can be more of a test in younger years, and then it just becomes a habit. I really love to dance, loud music, good parties and dancing. And just like Ole, I am absolutely indifferent to alcohol.

- Does Ole dance?

Ole: Learning!

Daria: When you're in high gear training process, you just can't afford to go to the disco, not get enough sleep and then fail the next workout. It already comes into automatism, and you just accept it as it is. For biathletes, the rest period is April, then you can afford to dance a little longer. And in your youth there were, of course, discos and in the midst of preparation, but you still have no right to miss a workout or conduct it poorly.

Ole: I can't say that I gave up on something. There was not enough communication with the family. When I started my career, I spent about 200 days a year in training, then up to 300 days. Since the age of 16, I have seen little of my family, because I set myself a high goal and spent almost no time at home.

Sports and money

- We are a business newspaper and we cannot but ask about money. When did sports start bringing in so much money that it was worth the cost?

Ole: Since the age of 16 I have been working independently in sports. I come from a family of farmers, so we had enough money to live, but not enough to play professional sports. In Norway, you can go in for biathlon if you go to a private school or section - you have to pay for it. Therefore, from about 14 years old, I began to look for and find sponsors. In Norway, in general, the situation with funding the start of a child - youth career in sports looks rather abnormal. You can go in for sports if there is a sponsor, if the parents have enough funds to play sports for the child, or you can take out a loan. Many of my friends, who studied with me in a sports gymnasium from 16 to 19 years old, left there with loans of 40,000-50,000 euros, which had to be paid.

- Do you remember your first sponsor?

Ole: It was a furniture store from the village where I lived. They gave me 1000 euros - then it was a colossal amount! From the age of 15, I could fully compensate for all my expenses for professional sports. In Norway, even successful athletes who are part of the national team of the country cannot afford to live, receiving salaries only from the biathlon federation: this is about 10,000 euros per year, and since our country is very expensive, this is just a trifle. There are two options left: to win the competition [by getting the prize money] and to find sponsors.

I negotiated 95% of my sponsorship contracts myself. Many people believe that if you become an Olympic champion or world champion, then you will definitely receive a good award from your state. In Norway it is zero euros for a win. And for us this is a normal situation, we are used to it. The government spends money on sports centers where you can do sports. When I first became an Olympic champion - it was back in Nagano - I thought that now I will be rich. But the money was enough for two years.

Daria: When I started playing sports, I absolutely did not think about any finances, earnings. For me it was sacred, something that I love with all my heart, where I run to training with burning eyes, where I want to achieve my maximum - a great incredible pleasure. I understood that I needed it for my soul, but in order to earn money in the future, I need to study well and have a profession that will allow me to further realize myself in other directions. I grew up in a family of architects, every day I heard talk about architecture, but from childhood I told my parents that I would never be an architect.

- And what about the costs of equipment, equipment, travel, etc.?

Daria: I started playing sports in Siberia, in the small town of Nyagan in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. There I was engaged in the sports section and sports school, and as children achieve results Sport section highlights equipment, skis, boots, etc. Naturally, this is not top-level equipment, but one that you deserve at the moment. In Nyagan, they began to gradually support me financially as my results grew. I didn't have any scholarship, salary or anything like that, but when we returned from the European Youth Olympic Festival and I brought silver medal in Nyagan, I also received an award of 1000 euros. With this amount came the understanding that sports can bring money, but this has never been my primary goal. In the first place was the inner desire to overcome, achieve, grow as an athlete. But, by the way, at every children's competition - and they were held in Nyagan in winter almost every weekend - the prize was once gifts, and once money, 100 rubles. for the first place.

- What year was that?

- Why doesn't biathlon attract so many rich sponsors like football or even volleyball, Formula 1, although it is a very dynamic, emotional sport?

Ole: Another reason is that it is a winter sport and, unfortunately, both the number of athletes who can do biathlon and the audience that can understand and enjoy this sport are limited. Biathlon, like cross-country skiing, is Olympic discipline and, accordingly, is not a professional sport, unlike auto or motorcycle racing.

All rights to our sport are owned by International union biathletes (IBU). The IBU is really developing our sport, I can see their success. The main income of the union comes from the sale of television rights, and here I see great prospects and the potential for attracting larger sponsors. Biathlon, in my opinion, is very attractive for television: it is much easier for the audience to understand, the race lasts from 15 to 50 minutes, everything is very dynamic, a lot highlights... It is interesting and simple to watch.

Continuing a career

- When you announced your retirement, there was talk that you could lead the IBU.

Ole: There were such conversations, and there were proposals to nominate myself, but I made a decision that for me this is still too short a time after the end sports career I was not ready to switch to a leadership position at the IBU so quickly, and I just wanted to spend more time with my family.

- Daria, you have your own clothing line. Is it a livelihood or a hobby? And do your couple have any other businesses?

Daria: So far, it's still more of a hobby than earning. I am interested in creative development and the train of thought, and I would like to develop in this direction, but now I devote all my time to the main direction of work. As you probably know, we are currently collaborating with the Chinese national biathlon team.

- This sportswear?

Daria: Athletic, but more for active rest... There are ski suits, but I'm not ready to equip yet. national teams... Now there is a small pause in the development of this direction, but I do not close these doors for myself. Besides, it is interesting for Ole too, so maybe in the future we will develop something very interesting together.

Ole: After the end of my career, I had many different thoughts in which direction to move on. But when we accepted the offer from China (Bjoerndalen became the head coach of the Chinese national biathlon team in September, Domracheva is preparing the women's team - Vedomosti), all our other concerns were postponed for later. Now a project in China takes up almost 100% of our time and attention, and there is simply no opportunity for anything else.

- Did you easily agree to the proposal of the National Olympic Committee of China?

Ole: This work is very interesting for us. We have the opportunity to work together, now I don't have to miss my family. Moreover, as athletes, we can again focus on achieving a specific goal. If I do something, then I give myself to it completely, 100%. We now spend about two to three months a year in China. But then much depends on whether training centers will be created in China and what quality they will be. If their quality is insufficient, we will continue to organize training camps in Europe.

- Are there talented biathletes in China?

Ole: Of course there is. But, of course, the volume of work is enormous and a lot still has to be done to achieve serious results. Expansion of geography, by the way, is one of the obvious directions for the development of biathlon. China, in my opinion, can be very interesting for the global development of biathlon.

- For a person who is not too immersed in the topic of winter sports, today's actions in China look fantastic: now is 2019, they have the Olympics in 2022. Is it really possible to create a national team of the level of Olympic medals in any country in three years?

Ole: The Olympic Games will be in two and a half years, and it is probably not yet possible to win. Although, before we agreed to work on this program in China, we came there and saw what kind of athletes there are, how promising and talented they are. I see that it is still very far from medals, but anything can become possible. In order to win a medal, it is necessary to work very hard and well: athletes need not only overcome themselves, but overcome themselves several times. In China, serious efforts are being made to achieve the goals. They have good discipline. But so far they lack experience in winter sports. Therefore, they turn to us and other specialists. China has a good culture that helps them achieve serious results. It will be difficult to improve the situation, but if we work on it every day, then the impossible will become possible in the end. You need to understand that there is no magic. Any result comes only when you train a lot and work on it.

How to eradicate doping

- What is your opinion on the purity of biathlon and the responsibility of an athlete or the state for doping?

Daria: In my opinion, it is impossible to force any athlete to use doping without his personal consent ...

- ... but while the person is small, he is very dependent on the coach!

Daria: How can we talk about doping when a person is small? The most important thing is to eradicate such a perception in the minds of those coaches who are raising young guys, and those who pass on their experience to young professionals. Unfortunately, I have also heard more than once that it is impossible to achieve success in sports without the use of some illegal drugs. You know, from such words it becomes really very unpleasant, because you know that it is possible, you know from your own experience. It is possible to achieve great success vigorous training, great desire, great faith that this is possible, patience. But, unfortunately, there is probably no absolutely fair game in any area of ​​human activity. Of course, everyone should be responsible for themselves. If you have a system around you, turned in such a way that if you refuse to use some drug that will elevate you to the championship, and 10 other athletes agree and you will simply end up overboard, this is one scenario. But if you together are a real team and really all believe in achieving the goal in an honest way, it seems to me that there is a chance here to say no to this system. In my opinion, personal responsibility is the main thing.

Of course, an athlete can find himself in any situation, it probably happens when something happens by accident. But for the most part, of course, athletes are aware. If you receive an injection, a pill, a powder, or whatever, you should know what is in them. It seems to me that not a single doctor, not a single trainer, not a single specialist can inject you or put something in your mouth just like that without your knowledge. Cheating is yet another possible variant, and here is already a conversation about the professionalism of people working in a team, about trust in them. Of course, they can add and sprinkle, but here everyone professional sportsman and team personnel should be on the lookout for their sports drink container, and not accept, or at least not eat, edible gifts from strangers.

- If you are a pure athlete, how many times a year, a month, a day do you receive any injections? Is this an extraordinary situation or an everyday one?

- Daria: The fact of the matter is that this is an absolutely extraordinary situation. To achieve the result with proper construction training program there is absolutely no need to use any injections - it is enough to maintain the level of vitamins in the body and all important microelements, for example, vitamins of group B, magnesium - very important substances in sports, it is important to replenish their reserves, because athletes naturally endure loads at times larger than people who do not go in for sports, respectively, and consume these and other substances faster. A complete and varied diet, isotonic during training and, most importantly, correct structure training plan with high-quality recovery in the form of rest, massage - that's the main thing. Yes, and also high-quality biochemical control, which will help to avoid overstrain of the body.

Ole: I think biathlon is now the cleanest doping in its history. I started my career in 1993, and now, in my opinion, biathlon has cleared up a lot. The situation has changed dramatically over the past 20 years. Athletes have become much smarter and with the help of the Internet they know perfectly well what threatens them from the use of this or that drug, and they know 20 times more than 20 years ago. I believe that athletes are really 100% responsible for what they do. Yes, I understand that it is very difficult to say “no” when there is strong pressure on you from the coach, federation, government. But I do not think that China, where the Olympics will take place in 2.5 years, wants to be accused later that their medals were not achieved in a completely clean way. They don't want to lose face at their home Olympics.

I had a chance to compete with those athletes who were doping. And yes, on the track I can be slower than them not even by 10-15 seconds, but by a minute or two, but here you need to be really smarter and better. And to understand that I have to work three times more or better than the one who takes the drugs, but I will achieve these results. And those athletes who choose this conventionally simpler path, in my opinion, are simply lazy. And in the end they will be caught, and perhaps they will have serious problems after the end of their careers. I think it is a very unpleasant feeling when you are deprived of your medals. But we have shooting in biathlon, and you can shoot well only when you have trained well for it, and not when you have taken some kind of drug. Cross-country skiing has, on the one hand, physical strength and lung capacity, and on the other, technique ski run, which is also practiced in training. Due to this, you can win.

- There is a skier who finished his skiing career, became a race car driver and a medalist of the European Championship - Gunde Svan. You ended your career last year. Would you like to start racing now?

Ole: If I had enough time, I would love to go to the racetrack, though taking a few trainings to start. So far, our life is quite active, and there is simply not enough time for this. But when I was young, as a child, Gundé Svan was my idol - I even have his autograph in my old passport. There are only two autographs - him and Niki Lauda.

- Is it true that you have an impressive collection of cars?

Ole: I have a BMW, but most of all I have driven and still drive Porsches. In Norway, I have driven a Porsche for 10 years, if not more. I had a 911, and I can admit that one of my biggest mistakes was that I sold it. Now I have a Cayenne, I also have a few sports Porsches. I would love to collect cars, especially if I could find a good one. But this is quite difficult.

Daria: The sporty Porsche that Ole mentioned is his gift to himself on the day he ends his career. For the hard work done over the years.

Ole: When I finished my career, I had more time to drive and I finally managed to fulfill my dream - I got a sports car.