Mike Dixon (biathlete)

Last updated

Mike Dixon
Personal information
Full nameMichael Dixon
Born (1962-11-21) 21 November 1962 (age 61)
Fort William, Scotland, United Kingdom
Height1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Website[]
Professional information
Sport Biathlon
Cross-country skiing
Club35 Engineer Regiment Hameln
World Cup debut18 December 1986
Retired20 February 2002
Olympic Games
Teams5 (1988, 1992, 1994, 1998, 2002)
1 (1984)
Medals0
World Championships
Teams14 (1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001)
Medals0
World Cup
Seasons16 (1986/87–2001/02)
All podiums0

Michael Dixon (born 21 November 1962), is a Scottish cross-country skier and biathlete. He has represented Great Britain at six Olympic Games in cross-country skiing and biathlon. [1] He is only the seventh athlete from any country to have competed at six Winter Games [2] and is one of fewer than fifty athletes to have competed in at least six Olympic Games.

Contents

He is a former Royal Engineer in the British Armed Forces, reaching the rank of Staff Sergeant, and currently a Nordic skiing and biathlon coach.

Career

At the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, he competed as a cross-country skier, coming 60th in the 15 km [3] and 14th in the 4x10km relay. Shortly afterwards, he switched to the Biathlon for the rest of his career, competing in his first event at the Biathlon World Championships in 1987 at Lake Placid. [4]

At the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, he came 21st in the 10 km sprint, 13th in the 20 km, and 13th in the 4 x 7.5 km relay.

At the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, he came 60th in the 10 km sprint, 12th in the 20 km, and 18th in the 4 x 7.5 km relay. In the 20km race, he was one of only three competitors (including gold medallist Yevgeniy Redkin) not to miss any targets. [5]

At the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, illness forced him into 54th place in the 20 km. His team came 17th in the 4 x 7.5 km relay. He was Britain's flag bearer at these Games, as he would be for the 1998 and 2002 Games as well.

At the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, he came 47th in the 10 km sprint and 33rd in the 20 km.

At his final Olympics, the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City, he came 74th in the 10 km sprint, 79th in the 20 km, and 19th in the 4 x 7.5 km relay. [6] He was given a surprise party at Soldier Hollow in honour of his sixth appearance by his teammates and the international biathlon community. [7]

After retiring, he has been working as a commentator for Eurosport. [8]

He led his team to victory in the BBC reality show Hercules Challenge in 2005. [9]

Personal life

He is affiliated with the 35 Engineer Regiment, Hameln and the Lochaber Athletic Club. [6] He speaks English and German and enjoys photography, canoeing and mountain-marathons. [10] He is married with four children and works with junior roller skiers and biathletes in Kingussie, Scotland. [11] His son Scott was also a professional biathlete. [12] He also works as a motivational speaker and fitness instructor.

Biathlon results

All results are sourced from the International Biathlon Union. [13]

Olympic Games

EventIndividualSprintPursuitRelay
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg 1988 Calgary 13th21st—13th
Flag of France.svg 1992 Albertville 12th60th—18th
Flag of Norway.svg 1994 Lillehammer 55th——17th
Flag of Japan.svg 1998 Nagano 33rd47th——
Flag of the United States.svg 2002 Salt Lake City 79th74th—19th
*Pursuit was added as an event in 2002.

World Championships

EventIndividualSprintPursuitMass startTeamRelay
Flag of the United States.svg 1987 Lake Placid 55th46th———13th
Flag of Austria.svg 1989 Feistritz 48th56th———13th
Flag of the Soviet Union.svg 1990 Minsk 12th62nd————
Flag of Finland.svg 1991 Lahti 41st41st——14th14th
Flag of Russia (1991-1993).svg 1992 Novosibirsk ————9th—
Flag of Bulgaria.svg 1993 Borovets 88th85th——20th21st
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg 1994 Canmore ————10th—
Flag of Italy.svg 1995 Antholz-Anterselva 45th———19th17th
Flag of Germany.svg 1996 Ruhpolding 48th52nd——18th20th
Flag of Slovakia.svg 1997 Brezno-Osrblie 50th—————
Flag of Slovenia.svg 1998 Pokljuka ——42nd—14th—
Flag of Finland.svg 1999 Kontiolahti 36th80th———16th
Flag of Norway.svg 2000 Oslo Holmenkollen 55th————18th
Flag of Slovenia.svg 2001 Pokljuka 68th55th55th——19th
*During Olympic seasons competitions are only held for those events not included in the Olympic program.
**The team event was added in 1989 and subsequently removed in 1998, pursuit having been added in 1997 with mass start being added in 1999.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biathlon</span> Winter sport of skiing and rifle shooting

The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not timed per se, but depending on the competition, missed shots result in extra distance or time being added to the contestant's total.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ole Einar Bjørndalen</span> Norwegian biathlete (born 1974)

Ole Einar Bjørndalen is a retired Norwegian professional biathlete and coach, often referred to by the nickname, the "King of Biathlon". With 13 Winter Olympic Games medals, he is second on the list of multiple medalists behind Marit Bjørgen who has won 15 medals. He is also the most successful biathlete of all time at the Biathlon World Championships, having won 45 medals. With 95 World Cup wins, Bjørndalen is ranked first all-time for career victories on the Biathlon World Cup tour. He has won the Overall World Cup title six times, in 1997–98, in 2002–03, in 2004–05, in 2005–06, in 2007–08 and in 2008–09.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lars Berger</span>

Lars Berger is a former Norwegian biathlete and cross-country skier.

Elin Kristiansen is a former biathlete from Norway. She won two individual World Championships medals, one in 1988 when she won silver at the 10 km event and a bronze in 1990 from the sprint event. Her best Winter Olympic Games placing came in the 1994 Winter Olympics, when she finished fourth in the relay event, and her best individual placing was ninth, from the individual at the Olympic games 1992 in Albertville.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ricco Groß</span> German biathlete

Ricco Groß is a former German biathlete whose exploits made him one of the most successful biathletes of all time at the Winter Olympics and the World Championships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ilmārs Bricis</span> Latvian biathlete

Ilmārs Bricis is a former Latvian biathlete, who has participated in six Winter Olympics from 1992 to 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Kirchner</span> German biathlete

Mark Kirchner is a German former biathlete.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frode Andresen</span> Norwegian biathlete and cross-country skier

Frode Andresen is a former Norwegian biathlete and cross-country skier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kati Wilhelm</span> German former professional biathlete (born 1976)

Kati Wilhelm is a German former professional biathlete. Like most German biathletes she is also a member of the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) with the rank of master sergeant (Hauptfeldwebel). Wilhelm resides in Steinbach-Hallenberg, in the Federal State of Thuringia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Greis</span> German biathlete

Michael Greis is a former German biathlete.

Peter Angerer is a former West German biathlete.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antje Harvey</span> German cross-country skier and biathlete

Antje Harvey is a former German cross-country skier and biathlete.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Luck</span> German biathlete

Frank Luck is a former German and, before 1990, East German biathlete.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emil Hegle Svendsen</span> Norwegian biathlete

Emil Hegle Svendsen is a retired Norwegian biathlete. He has won eight medals at Winter Olympics and five individual gold medals and seven relay gold medals at World Championships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biathlon at the Winter Olympics</span>

Biathlon debuted at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California with the men's 20 km individual event. At the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, the men's 4 × 7.5 km relay debuted, followed by the 10 km sprint event at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. Beginning at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, women's biathlon debuted with the 15 km individual, 3 × 7.5 km relay, and 7.5 km sprint. A pursuit race was included at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. The top 60 finishers of the sprint race would qualify for the pursuit event. The sprint winner starts the race, followed by each successive biathlete at the same time interval they trailed the sprint winner in that event. At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, a mass start was introduced where the top 30 biathletes from the previous four events were allowed to start together for the competition.

Valeriy Alekseyevich Medvedtsev is a former Russian biathlete.

Henrik Forsberg is a Swedish former cross-country skier and biathlete who competed from 1988 to 2001. Competing in four Winter Olympics, he earned his best finishes at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville in cross-country skiing with a fourth in the 4 × 10 km relay and ninth in the 10 km + 15 km combined pursuit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christoph Sumann</span> Austrian biathlete

Christoph "Sumi" Sumann is a former Austrian biathlete.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vincent Jay</span> French biathlete

Vincent Jay is a former French biathlete and non-commissioned officer. During his career, he won two Olympic medals at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver - a gold in the sprint and a bronze medal in the pursuit. He was the first Frenchman to win an Olympic sprint Biathlon title. In the World Cup, he has fourteen podiums with two individual victories in Vancouver and two victories as part of relay teams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vita Semerenko</span> Ukrainian biathlete

Vita Semerenko is a Ukrainian biathlete. She is Olympic champion in women's relay, Olympic medalist and multiple World championships medalist. She is one of the most successful Ukrainian winter athletes.

References

  1. ↑ "Team GB - Official home of the British Olympic Association - London 2012 | Team GB". Olympics.org.uk. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  2. ↑ "Great Britain's Winter Olympics Hall of Fame - 21-25". More than the games. 8 December 2008. Archived from the original on 21 April 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  3. ↑ "cross-country skiing at the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Games: Men's 15 kilometres | Olympics at". Sports-reference.com. 13 February 1984. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  4. ↑ Archived 27 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ↑ "Biathlon at the 1992 Albertville Winter Games: Men's 20 kilometres | Olympics at". Sports-reference.com. 20 February 1992. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  6. 1 2 "Mike Dixon Biography and Olympic Results | Olympics at". Sports-reference.com. 21 November 1962. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  7. ↑ "British biathlete honoured". BBC News. 17 February 2002.
  8. ↑ Gillon, Doug (24 February 2010). "Mike Dixon still has sights set on Olympic Games – at 47". Glasgow: The Herald . Retrieved 25 February 2011.
  9. ↑ "Domain name registration | Domain names | Web Hosting | 123-reg". Herculeschallenge.com. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  10. ↑ "DIXON Michael personal data, photos". Biathlon.com.ua. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  11. ↑ "Kingussie High School - Summer Newsletter" (PDF). kingussiehigh.highland.sch.uk. June 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2012. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  12. ↑ "Biathlon - Dixon doing all he can to succeed as a biathlete". Yahoo Sports . 16 November 2013. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  13. ↑ "Mike Dixon". IBU Datacenter. International Biathlon Union. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.