Bjørndalen's Catharsis

As he glided into place at the shooting range and hoisted his rifle to take aim at the final five targets, Ole Einar Bjørndalen flashed a stare so intense that there could be no mistaking the importance of the moment, or the ferocity of his desire. His ice blue eyes bore down on the targets for a fleeting half-second, then he flipped his hawk's eye blinder down and majestically shot a 'full house,' sending millions of Norwegians and 'OEB' fans around the world into ecstasy.

Yesterday's relay victory was all the sweeter because of the enormous disappointment he has shouldered throughout these Olympic Games, and indeed ever since the 2006 Games in Torino. Although he is the undisputed King of Biathlon, with every possible achievement and statistic to prove it, the fact is that Ole Einar Bjørndalen - despite his famously exhaustive physical and mental training - had cracked under the pressure in his previous eight Olympic events.

In 2002, he foreshadowed Michael Phelps's haul by winning all three biathlon events and the relay - a historic total of four golds out of four. In 2006, however, he was shockingly passed just before the finish line in the 12.5km pursuit and lost gold to Vincent Defrasne. In the 15km mass start, he missed two targets at the final shooting and agonizingly slipped from gold to bronze.

In Vancouver, OEB fans were hoping for redemption, and a restoration of Bjørndalen's infallible image. What happened? An incredible three misses on the very first prone shooting immediately destroyed his chances in the sprint and the pursuit. Two more misses at the final shooting in the 20km caused another bitter choke, as he giftwrapped the gold for his protege, Emil Hegle Svendsen. Finally, an unheard-of seven misses in the mass start led to his worst-ever finish in a World Championships or Olympics, 27th out of 30.

After that unbelievable fiasco, he tried to see the humorous side of his colossal failure, saying, "It shouldn't be possible to shoot that badly." Inside, though, the depths of his despair must have been unfathomable. In the days that followed, he apparently had several phone conversations with a mental trainer as he tried to steel himself for the relay.

As he skied out for the final leg even with Austria's Christoph Sumann, snow falling heavily as it had throughout the relay, the anticipation couldn't have been greater. 40-year old Halvard Hanevold, in his last race before retirement, turned back the clock in the first leg and 21 year-old Tarjei Bø gave Norway a glimpse of its biathlon future with a lightning fast, penalty free second leg. Emil Hegle Svendsen maintained the lead in the third leg, meaning that were defeat to come, it could only have been blamed on Ole Einar.

Hearts were in mouths as he missed twice on the prone shoot, but he coolly reloaded and hit both targets with his extra bullets, while Sumann suffered a melt-down, missing four and so incurring a penalty loop. From then on, Bjørndalen was alone in the pine forest, with only the sound of his skis, his poles and his breathing to accompany him. Oh, and of course, every athlete's greatest nemesis - his own thoughts.

Imagine, then, the pride, the relief and the jubilation when he fired five out of five on that last shoot. The King of Norway, as he gave Ole Einar a congratulatory hug, said, "Did you really need to make it so exciting?" Perhaps, if Bjørndalen truly were infallible, he wouldn't have had to make it so nerve-wracking. But because he is human - "I was nervous before my leg," he said afterwards - the celebration of his achievement is, for me, that much more profound.