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

Tora Berger
Full nameTora Berger
Born (1981-03-18) 18 March 1981 (age 43)
Ringerike, Norway
Height1.64 m (5 ft 5 in)
World Cup career
Seasons2001–2014
Podiums63
Wins28
Discipline titles2 (2012–13, 2013–14)
Updated on 20 March 2014.

Personal life

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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] She is the younger sister of biathlete and cross-country skier Lars Berger.[5]

Career

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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

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.[5]

At the Biathlon World Championships 2012 in Ruhpolding, Berger took two golds in the 15 km individual and the 12.5 km mass start.[5]

At the Biathlon World Championships 2013 in Nove Mesto, she won medals in every event she entered,[5] taking 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.[5]

IBU World Cup

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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.

Season Overall Sprint Pursuit Individual Mass Start
Races Points Position Races Points Position Races Points Position Races Points Position Races Points Position
2002–03 11/23 1 68th 5/9 1 65th 4/7 2/3 0/4
2003–04 - - -
2004–05 26/27 389 17th 10/10 160 13th 8/9 102 21st 4/4 64 14th 4/4 47 21st
2005–06 20/26 253 22nd 9/10 104 22nd 6/8 75 26th 2/3 20 33rd 3/5 54 23rd
2006–07 25/27 450 14th 9/10 175 12th 8/8 124 16th 3/4 92 5th 5/5 53 24th
2007–08 24/26 664 6th 9/10 271 6th 8/8 238 4th 2/3 40 15th 5/5 102 12th
2008–09 23/26 894 3rd 9/10 352 3rd 7/7 246 2nd 3/4 122 3rd 4/5 146 6th
2009–10 20/25 564 12th 9/10 215 15th 4/6 101 24th 2/4 87 13th 5/5 139 9th
2010–11 24/26 963 4th 9/10 356 3rd 6/7 268 4th 4/4 133 4th 5/5 206 3rd
2011–12 26/26 1054 3rd 10/10 373 4th 8/8 361 3rd 3/3 108 5th 5/5 241 2nd
2012–13 26/26 1234 1st 10/10 428 1st 8/8 417 1st 3/3 168 1st 5/5 262 1st
2013–14 22/22 856 1st 9/9 361 2nd 8/8 319 2nd 2/2 58 9th 3/3 121 4th
*Key:Races—number of entered races/all races; Points—World Cup points; Position—World Cup season ranking.

Biathlon results

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Olympic Games

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Event Individual Sprint Pursuit Mass start Relay Mixed relay
  2006 Turin 13th 23rd 18th 25th 5th
  2010 Vancouver Gold 33rd 5th 18th 4th
  2014 Sochi 16th 10th Silver 14th Silver Gold

World Championships

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  • 18 medals – (8 gold, 5 silver, 5 bronze)
Event Individual Sprint Pursuit Mass start Relay Mixed relay
  2005 Hochfilzen 21st 11th 19th 13th 5th
  2005 Khanty-Mansiysk 10th
  2006 Pokljuka Silver
  2007 Antholz-Anterselva 4th 10th 19th 25th Bronze Bronze
  2008 Östersund 4th 4th 4th Silver 6th
  2009 Pyeongchang Bronze 19th 9th 15th 11th 4th
  2010 Khanty-Mansiysk Silver
  2011 Khanty-Mansiysk 10th 7th 5th Bronze 5th Gold
  2012 Ruhpolding Gold 6th 4th Gold Bronze Gold
  2013 Nové Město Gold Silver Gold Silver Gold Gold

Junior/Youth World Championships

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Event Individual Sprint Pursuit Relay
  2000 Hochfilzen 13th Bronze 9th 5th
  2001 Khanty-Mansiysk 21st 24th 38th 5th

Individual victories

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

Season Date Location Discipline Level
2007/08
2 victories
(1 Sp, 1 Pu)
2 December 2007   Kontiolahti 10 km Pursuit Biathlon World Cup
5 January 2008   Oberhof 7.5 km Sprint Biathlon World Cup
2008/09
2 victories
(1 Sp, 1 MS)
22 January 2009   Antholz 7.5 km Sprint Biathlon World Cup
22 March 2009   Trondheim 12.5 km Mass Start Biathlon World Cup
2009/10
2 victories
(1 Sp, 1 In)
5 December 2009   Östersund 7.5 km Sprint Biathlon World Cup
18 February 2010   Vancouver 15 km Individual Winter Olympic Games
2010/11
6 victories
(2 Sp, 2 Pu, 1 In, 1 MS)
16 December 2010   Pokljuka 15 km Individual Biathlon World Cup
15 January 2011   Ruhpolding 7.5 km Sprint Biathlon World Cup
16 January 2011   Ruhpolding 10 km Pursuit Biathlon World Cup
21 January 2011   Antholz 7.5 km Sprint Biathlon World Cup
22 January 2011   Antholz 12.5 km Mass Start Biathlon World Cup
6 February 2011   Presque Isle, Maine 10 km Pursuit Biathlon World Cup
2011/12
4 victories
(2 Pu, 1 In, 1 MS)
4 December 2011   Östersund 10 km Pursuit Biathlon World Cup
15 January 2012   Nové Město 10 km Pursuit Biathlon World Cup
7 March 2012   Ruhpolding 15 km Individual Biathlon World Championships
11 March 2012   Ruhpolding 12.5 km Mass Start Biathlon World Championships
2012/13
11 victories
(2 Sp, 4 Pu, 2 In, 3 MS)
29 November 2012   Östersund 15 km Individual Biathlon World Cup
1 December 2012   Östersund 7.5 km Sprint Biathlon World Cup
2 December 2012   Östersund 10 km Pursuit Biathlon World Cup
16 December 2012   Pokljuka 12.5 km Mass Start Biathlon World Cup
13 January 2013   Ruhpolding 12.5 km Mass Start Biathlon World Cup
19 January 2013   Antholz 10 km Pursuit Biathlon World Cup
10 February 2013   Nové Město 10 km Pursuit Biathlon World Championships
13 February 2013   Nové Město 15 km Individual Biathlon World Championships
1 March 2013   Oslo 7.5 km Sprint Biathlon World Cup
2 March 2013   Oslo 10 km Pursuit Biathlon World Cup
3 March 2013   Oslo 12.5 km Mass Start Biathlon World Cup
2013/14
1 victory
(1 MS)
5 January 2014   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

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All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).[6]

World Cup

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Season standings

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 Season   Age  Discipline standings Ski Tour standings
Overall Distance Sprint Nordic
Opening
Tour de
Ski
World Cup
Final
2012 31 61 46

Team podiums

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  • 1 podium – (1 RL)
No. Season Date Location Race Level Place Teammates
1 2011–12 20 November 2011   Sjusjøen, Norway 4 × 5 km Relay C/F World Cup 2nd Jacobsen / Østberg / Kristoffersen

Awards and nominations

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  • 2013: Awarded the Holmenkollen medal
  • 2013: Winner of Norwegian Sportsperson of the Year 2012
  • 2013: Winner of the "Female athlete of the year" for 2012 at the Sports Gala 2013
  • 2013: Nominated for the "Name of the year" for 2012 at the Sports Gala 2013
  • 2012: Nominated for the "Female athlete of the year" for 2011 at the Sports Gala 2012
  • 2011: Nominated for "Name of the year" for 2010 at the Sports Gala 2011
  • 2011: Nominated for "Female athlete of the year" for 2010 at the Sports Gala 2011
  • 2010: Nominated for "Female athlete of the year" for 2009 at the Sports Gala 2010

References

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  1. ^ a b "Tora Berger's sport data profile". biathlonworld.com. IBU. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
  2. ^ a b Tarzan og Tussi er barna våre Her og Nå
  3. ^ Tren bikkja som en toppidrettsutøver Dagens Næringsliv
  4. ^ a b A Different View of…Tora Berger Video IBU Info JK
  5. ^ a b c d e "Tora Berger". olympics.com. Retrieved 19 January 2024.
  6. ^ "BERGER Tora". FIS-Ski. International Ski Federation. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
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Awards
Preceded by Norwegian Sportsperson of the Year
2012
Succeeded by