Tora Berger

Last updated

Tora Berger
Tora Berger 2006.jpg
Full nameTora Berger
Born (1981-03-18) 18 March 1981 (age 42)
Ringerike, Norway
Height1.64 m (5 ft 5 in)
World Cup career
Seasons2001–2014
Individual wins28
Indiv. podiums63
Discipline titles2 (2012–13, 2013–14)
Updated on 20 March 2014.

Tora Berger (born 18 March 1981) is a retired Norwegian biathlete and Olympic champion. [1]

Contents

Personal life

Berger married in 2010, having met her husband in high school. [2] They have two dogs Tussi (Eeyore in English) and Tarzan – Tarzan often joins her on training runs. [3] Whilst away from home during the biathlon season she enjoys knitting [4] and reading (especially books about crime [2] ). Outside biathlon she enjoys hunting and fishing. [4]

Career

She has been a member of the Norwegian women's biathlon team since 1999. She has 28 individual victories in the World Cup. [1]

Tora Berger Tora Berger.jpg
Tora Berger

At the 2008 World Championship, she received three 4th places, before earning the silver medal in the mass start.[ citation needed ]

On 18 February 2010, she became the first Norwegian woman to win an Olympic gold medal in biathlon by winning the women's 15 km individual at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. By doing this, she won Norway's 100th Olympic gold medal at the Winter Olympic Games, as well as winning the 10th Norwegian biathlon gold medal. This historic medal makes Norway the first ever nation to win 100 gold medals at the Winter Olympic Games.[ citation needed ]

At the Biathlon World Championships 2013 in Nove Mesto, she won gold in the mixed relay, silver in the sprint and gold in the pursuit before becoming the first woman to defend her 15k individual title. She followed this up with a stunning final-leg performance in the relay, making up a deficit of nearly 40 seconds on the leaders to take another gold medal, before taking silver in the mass start. As the holder of 18 world championship medals she is second in the table of total medals, one medal behind Uschi Disl. At the same championships, she also became the first biathlete (male or female) to win 6 medals at a single biathlon world championships, with four golds and two silvers.[ citation needed ]

Berger competed in Biathlon at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi where she won 3 medals. Gold in the Mixed relay together with Tiril Eckhoff, Ole Einar Bjørndalen and Emil Hegle Svendsen, a silver in the Women's Pursuit, and a silver in the Women's relay,[ citation needed ]

IBU World Cup

Although Tora Berger had been part of the Norwegian women's biathlon team since 1999, up until the end of the 2011–12 season she had never been the world cup winner either overall or in any of the individual disciplines. Her highest finish was third in the overall standings in the 2008–09 and 2011–12 seasons, second in the Pursuit discipline in the 2008–09 season, and second in the Mass Start discipline in the 2011–12 season.

Success came in the 2012–13 World Cup season, with Tora taking 11 wins and missing the podium only seven times. Her 19 podium finishes equalled Magdalena Forsberg's record for the highest number of podium finishes in a single season. She won all three races at Oslo Holmenkollen to secure the crystal globes for both the Overall women's world cup and the Pursuit discipline. By the end of the season she had also won the crystal globe for the Individual, Sprint and Mass Start disciplines, completing a clean sweep of the five women's crystal globes (a feat last achieved by Magdalena Forsberg in the 2001–02 season). With Berger's contribution, Norway also won the 2012/13 season's Women's Nation Cup, Women's Relay Cup and Mixed Relay Cup.

SeasonOverallSprintPursuitIndividualMass Start
RacesPointsPositionRacesPointsPositionRacesPointsPositionRacesPointsPositionRacesPointsPosition
2002–03 11/23168th5/9165th4/72/30/4
2003–04 ---
2004–05 26/2738917th10/1016013th8/910221st4/46414th4/44721st
2005–06 20/2625322nd9/1010422nd6/87526th2/32033rd3/55423rd
2006–07 25/2745014th9/1017512th8/812416th3/4925th5/55324th
2007–08 24/266646th9/102716th8/82384th2/34015th5/510212th
2008–09 23/268943rd9/103523rd7/72462nd3/41223rd4/51466th
2009–10 20/2556412th9/1021515th4/610124th2/48713th5/51399th
2010–11 24/269634th9/103563rd6/72684th4/41334th5/52063rd
2011–12 26/2610543rd10/103734th8/83613rd3/31085th5/52412nd
2012–13 26/2612341st10/104281st8/84171st3/31681st5/52621st
2013–14 22/228561st9/93612nd8/83192nd2/2589th3/31214th
*Key:Races—number of entered races/all races; Points—World Cup points; Position—World Cup season ranking.

Biathlon results

Olympic Games

EventIndividualSprintPursuitMass startRelayMixed relay
Flag of Italy.svg 2006 Turin 13th23rd18th25th5th
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg 2010 Vancouver Gold33rd5th18th4th
Flag of Russia.svg 2014 Sochi 16th10thSilver14thSilverGold

World Championships

EventIndividualSprintPursuitMass startRelayMixed relay
Flag of Austria.svg 2005 Hochfilzen 21st11th19th13th5th
Flag of Russia.svg 2005 Khanty-Mansiysk 10th
Flag of Slovenia.svg 2006 Pokljuka Silver
Flag of Italy.svg 2007 Antholz-Anterselva 4th10th19th25thBronzeBronze
Flag of Sweden.svg 2008 Östersund 4th4th4thSilver6th
Flag of South Korea.svg 2009 Pyeongchang Bronze19th9th15th11th4th
Flag of Russia.svg 2010 Khanty-Mansiysk Silver
Flag of Russia.svg 2011 Khanty-Mansiysk 10th7th5thBronze5thGold
Flag of Germany.svg 2012 Ruhpolding Gold6th4thGoldBronzeGold
Flag of the Czech Republic.svg 2013 Nové Město GoldSilverGoldSilverGoldGold

Junior/Youth World Championships

EventIndividualSprintPursuitRelay
Flag of Austria.svg 2000 Hochfilzen 13thBronze9th5th
Flag of Russia.svg 2001 Khanty-Mansiysk 21st24th38th5th

Individual victories

28 victories (7 Sp, 9 Pu, 5 In, 7 MS)

SeasonDateLocationDisciplineLevel
2007/08
2 victories
(1 Sp, 1 Pu)
2 December 2007 Flag of Finland.svg Kontiolahti 10 km Pursuit Biathlon World Cup
5 January 2008 Flag of Germany.svg Oberhof 7.5 km Sprint Biathlon World Cup
2008/09
2 victories
(1 Sp, 1 MS)
22 January 2009 Flag of Italy.svg Antholz 7.5 km Sprint Biathlon World Cup
22 March 2009 Flag of Norway.svg Trondheim 12.5 km Mass Start Biathlon World Cup
2009/10
2 victories
(1 Sp, 1 In)
5 December 2009 Flag of Sweden.svg Östersund 7.5 km Sprint Biathlon World Cup
18 February 2010 Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Vancouver 15 km Individual Winter Olympic Games
2010/11
6 victories
(2 Sp, 2 Pu, 1 In, 1 MS)
16 December 2010 Flag of Slovenia.svg Pokljuka 15 km Individual Biathlon World Cup
15 January 2011 Flag of Germany.svg Ruhpolding 7.5 km Sprint Biathlon World Cup
16 January 2011 Flag of Germany.svg Ruhpolding 10 km Pursuit Biathlon World Cup
21 January 2011 Flag of Italy.svg Antholz 7.5 km Sprint Biathlon World Cup
22 January 2011 Flag of Italy.svg Antholz 12.5 km Mass Start Biathlon World Cup
6 February 2011 Flag of the United States.svg Presque Isle, Maine 10 km Pursuit Biathlon World Cup
2011/12
4 victories
(2 Pu, 1 In, 1 MS)
4 December 2011 Flag of Sweden.svg Östersund 10 km Pursuit Biathlon World Cup
15 January 2012 Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Nové Město 10 km Pursuit Biathlon World Cup
7 March 2012 Flag of Germany.svg Ruhpolding 15 km Individual Biathlon World Championships
11 March 2012 Flag of Germany.svg Ruhpolding 12.5 km Mass Start Biathlon World Championships
2012/13
11 victories
(2 Sp, 4 Pu, 2 In, 3 MS)
29 November 2012 Flag of Sweden.svg Östersund 15 km Individual Biathlon World Cup
1 December 2012 Flag of Sweden.svg Östersund 7.5 km Sprint Biathlon World Cup
2 December 2012 Flag of Sweden.svg Östersund 10 km Pursuit Biathlon World Cup
16 December 2012 Flag of Slovenia.svg Pokljuka 12.5 km Mass Start Biathlon World Cup
13 January 2013 Flag of Germany.svg Ruhpolding 12.5 km Mass Start Biathlon World Cup
19 January 2013 Flag of Italy.svg Antholz 10 km Pursuit Biathlon World Cup
10 February 2013 Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Nové Město 10 km Pursuit Biathlon World Championships
13 February 2013 Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Nové Město 15 km Individual Biathlon World Championships
1 March 2013 Flag of Norway.svg Oslo 7.5 km Sprint Biathlon World Cup
2 March 2013 Flag of Norway.svg Oslo 10 km Pursuit Biathlon World Cup
3 March 2013 Flag of Norway.svg Oslo 12.5 km Mass Start Biathlon World Cup
2013/14
1 victory
(1 MS)
5 January 2014 Flag of Germany.svg Oberhof 12.5 km Mass Start Biathlon World Cup
*Results are from IBU races which include the Biathlon World Cup, Biathlon World Championships and the Winter Olympic Games.

Cross-country skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS). [5]

World Cup

Season standings

 Season  Age Discipline standingsSki Tour standings
OverallDistanceSprintNordic
Opening
Tour de
Ski
World Cup
Final
2012 316146

Team podiums

  • 1 podium – (1 RL)
No.SeasonDateLocationRaceLevelPlaceTeammates
1 2011–12 20 November 2011 Flag of Norway.svg Sjusjøen, Norway4 × 5 km Relay C/FWorld Cup2nd Jacobsen / Østberg / Kristoffersen

Awards and nominations

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References

  1. 1 2 "Tora Berger's sport data profile". biathlonworld.com. IBU. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
  2. 1 2 Tarzan og Tussi er barna våre Her og Nå
  3. Tren bikkja som en toppidrettsutøver Dagens Næringsliv
  4. 1 2 A Different View of…Tora Berger Video IBU Info JK
  5. "BERGER Tora". FIS-Ski. International Ski Federation. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
Awards
Preceded by Norwegian Sportsperson of the Year
2012
Succeeded by