Raphaël Poirée

Raphaël Poirée (born 9 August 1974) is a retired French biathlete who was active from 1995 to 2007. With his 44 World Cup victories and several World Championship medals he ranks among the most successful biathletes ever.

Sports career Poirée was born in Rives, Isère in France and like the rest of his colleagues in the French biathlon and cross-country skiing team, was a sport soldier.

Poirée has four IBU World Cup titles (1999−00, 2000−01, 2001−02 and 2003−04). He has also come second once, in 2005−06 and third once, in the 2004−05 season. Poirée has had 103 World Cup podium finishes, 44 in first place, 39 in second, and has come third 20 times. In the Winter Olympics, Poiree has one silver and two bronze medals. At the World Championships however, he has seven gold medals, three silver and seven bronze.

Raphaël Poirée was one of the best mass start biathletes of his time, with 9 1st places, 4 2nd places, and 3 3rd places in his World Cup career, second only to Ole Einar Bjørndalen who got 10 1st places, 5 2nd places and 4 3rd places in the same time frame. Poirée also won 4 out of the 7 World Championship mass start races he took part in.

Poirée also had five victories at the Holmenkollen ski festival biathlon competition with three mass starts (2000, 2002, and 2004), one pursuit (2004) and one individual (2007).

After winning the gold medal at the World Championships in Antholz in 2007, Poiree announced the end of his career after that World Cup season. He eventually chose to retire after the Holmenkollen World Cup meet (i.e. before the season's last WC meet, in Khanty-Mansyisk in Russia the week after); his last competition was the Mass start race on Sunday 11 March, where he finished in second place after a cm-close last sprint to the finish line against his long-time competitor Ole Einar Bjørndalen of Norway.

Personal life He married Norwegian biathlete Liv Grete Skjelbreid Poirée on 27 May 2000 in Norway. They first met at the 1992 Junior World Championships and began dating in 1996. They have three daughters together, Emma (born 27 January 2003), Anna (born 10 January 2007) and Lena (born 10 October 2008). They have a flat in La Chapelle-en-Vercors, France, but live mostly in Liv Grete's home village in the Hålandsdal area of Bjørnafjorden Municipality in Norway. The Poirées are the only husband and wife to win medals in the same Olympics for different nations. At the 2002 Winter Olympics, France's Raphaël and Norway's Liv won matching silver medals in the biathlon. In July 2013, the couple announced that they were separating.

In 2009, Poirée was involved in a quad-bike accident which nearly left him paralysed. One month after undergoing neck and back surgery he was released from hospital.

He speaks French, English, Norwegian and Italian

Biathlon results All results are sourced from the International Biathlon Union.

Olympic Games 3 medals (1 silver, 2 bronze) EventIndividualSprintPursuitRelay 1998 Nagano 22nd DNF 7th 2002 Salt Lake City 10th 9th Silver Bronze 2006 Turin 20th 8th DNF 12th Bronze Pursuit was added as an event in 2002, with mass start being added in 2006.

World Championships 18 medals (8 gold, 3 silver, 7 bronze) EventIndividualSprintPursuitTeamRelay 1996 Ruhpolding 67th 23rd 10th 5th 1997 Brezno-Osrblie 14th 59th — 7th 5th 1998 Pokljuka Bronze 7th 1999 Kontiolahti 19th 26th 11th 9th 12th 2000 Oslo Holmenkollen 4th 6th Bronze Gold 10th 2001 Pokljuka 37th 7th Silver Gold Gold 2002 Oslo Holmenkollen Gold 2003 Khanty-Mansiysk 7th DNF — Bronze 13th 2004 Oberhof Gold Gold Silver Gold Bronze 2005 Hochfilzen 8th 13th 9th Bronze 5th 6th 2006 Pokljuka Bronze 2007 Antholz-Anterselva Gold 8th 6th Bronze — Silver During Olympic seasons competitions are only held for those events not included in the Olympic program. Team was removed as an event in 1998, and pursuit was added in 1997 with mass start being added in 1999 and the mixed relay in 2005.

World Cup Pursuit was added as an event in the 1996–97 season, and mass start was added in the 1998–99 season.

Individual victories 44 victories (7 In, 13 Sp, 15 Pu, 9 MS) Results are from UIPMB and IBU races which include the Biathlon World Cup, Biathlon World Championships and the Winter Olympic Games.