Raphaël Poirée

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.

He married fellow biathlete Liv Grete Skjelbreid Poirée from in 2000 in Norway. 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 of Hålandsdal, 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

All results are sourced from the International Biathlon Union.

Olympic Games

3 medals (1 silver, 2 bronze)

Event	Individual	Sprint	Pursuit	Mass start	Relay
1998 Nagano	22nd	DNF	N/A	N/A	7th
2002 Salt Lake City	10th	9th	Silver	N/A	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

20 medals (7 gold, 6 silver, 7 bronze)

Event	Individual	Sprint	Pursuit	Mass start	Team	Relay	Mixed relay
1996 Ruhpolding	67th	23rd	N/A	N/A	10th	5th	N/A
1997 Brezno-Osrblie	14th	59th	—	N/A	7th	5th	N/A
1998 Pokljuka	N/A	N/A	Bronze	N/A	7th	N/A	N/A
1999 Kontiolahti	19th	26th	11th	9th	N/A	12th	N/A
2000 Oslo Holmenkollen	4th	6th	Bronze	Gold	N/A	10th	N/A
2001 Pokljuka	37th	7th	Silver	Gold	N/A	Gold	N/A
2002 Oslo Holmenkollen	N/A	N/A	N/A	Gold	N/A	N/A	N/A
2003 Khanty-Mansiysk	7th	DNF	—	Bronze	N/A	13th	N/A
2004 Oberhof	Gold	Gold	Silver	Gold	N/A	Bronze	N/A
2005 Hochfilzen	8th	13th	9th	Bronze	N/A	5th	6th
2006 Pokljuka	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	Bronze
2007 Antholz-Anterselva	Gold	8th	6th	Bronze	N/A	—	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)

Season	Date	Location	Discipline	Level
1997–98 1 victory (1 Sp)	8 January 1998	Ruhpolding	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
1998–99 4 victories (3 Pu, 1 MS)	12 December 1998	Hochfilzen	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Cup
	13 January 1999	Ruhpolding	15 km mass start	Biathlon World Cup
	17 January 1999	Ruhpolding	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Cup
	27 February 1999	Lake Placid	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Cup
1999–2000 3 victories (1 In, 1 Sp, 1 MS)	15 December 1999	Pokljuka	20 km individual	Biathlon World Cup
	20 January 2000	Antholz-Anterselva	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
	26 February 2000	Oslo Holmenkollen	15 km mass start	Biathlon World Championships
2000–01 6 victories (3 Sp, 2 Pu, 1 MS)	7 December 2000	Antholz-Anterselva	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
	8 December 2000	Antholz-Anterselva	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Cup
	15 December 2000	Antholz-Anterselva	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
	4 January 2001	Oberhof	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
	14 January 2001	Ruhpolding	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Cup
	9 February 2001	Pokljuka	15 km mass start	Biathlon World Championships
2001–02 7 victories (2 Sp, 3 Pu, 2 MS)	16 December 2001	Pokljuka	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Cup
	12 January 2002	Oberhof	15 km mass start	Biathlon World Cup
	18 January 2002	Ruhpolding	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
	27 January 2002	Antholz-Anterselva	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Cup
	14 March 2002	Lahti	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
	17 March 2002	Lahti	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Cup
	24 March 2002	Oslo Holmenkollen	15 km mass start	Biathlon World Cup
2002–03 2 victories (1 Sp, 1 Pu)	19 December 2002	Brezno-Osrblie	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
	22 December 2002	Brezno-Osrblie	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Cup
2003–04 11 victories (2 In, 3 Sp, 4 Pu, 2 MS)	18 December 2003	Brezno-Osrblie	20 km individual	Biathlon World Cup
	21 December 2003	Brezno-Osrblie	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Cup
	8 January 2004	Pokljuka	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
	25 January 2004	Antholz-Anterselva	15 km mass start	Biathlon World Cup
	7 February 2004	Oberhof	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Championships
	12 February 2004	Oberhof	20 km individual	Biathlon World Championships
	15 February 2004	Oberhof	15 km mass start	Biathlon World Championships
	29 February 2004	Lake Placid	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Cup
	4 March 2004	Fort Kent	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
	5 March 2004	Fort Kent	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Cup
	13 March 2004	Oslo Holmenkollen	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Cup
2004–05 3 victories (1 Pu, 2 MS)	19 December 2004	Östersund	15 km mass start	Biathlon World Cup
	9 January 2005	Oberhof	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Cup
	19 March 2005	Khanty-Mansiysk	15 km mass start	Biathlon World Cup
2005–06 1 victory (1 In)	8 December 2005	Hochfilzen	20 km individual	Biathlon World Cup
2006–07 6 victories (3 In, 2 Sp, 1 Pu)	14 December 2006	Hochfilzen	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
	6 February 2007	Antholz-Anterselva	20 km individual	Biathlon World Championships
	1 March 2007	Lahti	20 km individual	Biathlon World Cup
	3 March 2007	Lahti	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
	4 March 2007	Lahti	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Cup
	8 March 2007	Oslo Holmenkollen	20 km individual	Biathlon World Cup

*Results are from UIPMB and IBU races which include the Biathlon World Cup, Biathlon World Championships and the Winter Olympic Games.