Raphaël Poirée
Raphaël Poirée is a retired French biathlete who was active from 1995 to 2007. With his 44 World Cup victories and several World Championship medals he ranks among the most successful biathletes ever.
Sports career
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. 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, one pursuit and one individual.
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 ; 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.
Personal life
He married fellow Norwegian biathlete Liv Grete Skjelbreid Poirée on 27 May 2000 in Norway. They first met at the 1992 Junior World Championships and began dating in 1996. They have three daughters together, Emma, Anna and Lena. 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
Biathlon results
All results are sourced from the International Biathlon Union.Olympic Games
3 medals| Event | Individual | Sprint | Pursuit | Relay | |
 1998 Nagano | 22nd | DNF | 7th | ||
 2002 Salt Lake City | 10th | 9th | Silver | Bronze | |
 2006 Turin | 20th | 8th | DNF | 12th | Bronze |
World Championships
18 medals| Event | Individual | Sprint | Pursuit | Team | Relay | ||
 1996 Ruhpolding | 67th | 23rd | 10th | 5th | |||
 1997 Brezno-Osrblie | 14th | 59th | — | 7th | 5th | ||
 1998 Pokljuka | Bronze | 7th | |||||
 1999 Kontiolahti | 19th | 26th | 11th | 9th | 12th | ||
 2000 Oslo Holmenkollen | 4th | 6th | Bronze | Gold | 10th | ||
| 2001 Pokljuka | 37th | 7th | Silver | Gold | Gold | ||
| 2002 Oslo Holmenkollen | Gold | ||||||
 2003 Khanty-Mansiysk | 7th | DNF | — | Bronze | 13th | ||
| 2004 Oberhof | Gold | Gold | Silver | Gold | Bronze | ||
 2005 Hochfilzen | 8th | 13th | 9th | Bronze | 5th | 6th | |
| 2006 Pokljuka | Bronze | ||||||
 2007 Antholz-Anterselva | Gold | 8th | 6th | Bronze | — | Silver |
World Cup
Individual victories
44 victories| Season | Date | Location | Discipline | Level |
| 1997–98 1 victory | 8 January 1998 | Ruhpolding | 10 km sprint | Biathlon World Cup |
| 1998–99 4 victories | 12 December 1998 | Hochfilzen | 12.5 km pursuit | Biathlon World Cup |
| 1998–99 4 victories | 13 January 1999 | Ruhpolding | 15 km mass start | Biathlon World Cup |
| 1998–99 4 victories | 17 January 1999 | Ruhpolding | 12.5 km pursuit | Biathlon World Cup |
| 1998–99 4 victories | 27 February 1999 |  Lake Placid | 12.5 km pursuit | Biathlon World Cup |
| 1999–2000 3 victories | 15 December 1999 | Pokljuka | 20 km individual | Biathlon World Cup |
| 1999–2000 3 victories | 20 January 2000 | Antholz-Anterselva | 10 km sprint | Biathlon World Cup |
| 1999–2000 3 victories | 26 February 2000 | Oslo Holmenkollen | 15 km mass start | Biathlon World Championships |
| 2000–01 6 victories | 7 December 2000 | Antholz-Anterselva | 10 km sprint | Biathlon World Cup |
| 2000–01 6 victories | 8 December 2000 | Antholz-Anterselva | 12.5 km pursuit | Biathlon World Cup |
| 2000–01 6 victories | 15 December 2000 | Antholz-Anterselva | 10 km sprint | Biathlon World Cup |
| 2000–01 6 victories | 4 January 2001 | Oberhof | 10 km sprint | Biathlon World Cup |
| 2000–01 6 victories | 14 January 2001 | Ruhpolding | 12.5 km pursuit | Biathlon World Cup |
| 2000–01 6 victories | 9 February 2001 | Pokljuka | 15 km mass start | Biathlon World Championships |
| 2001–02 7 victories | 16 December 2001 | Pokljuka | 12.5 km pursuit | Biathlon World Cup |
| 2001–02 7 victories | 12 January 2002 | Oberhof | 15 km mass start | Biathlon World Cup |
| 2001–02 7 victories | 18 January 2002 | Ruhpolding | 10 km sprint | Biathlon World Cup |
| 2001–02 7 victories | 27 January 2002 | Antholz-Anterselva | 12.5 km pursuit | Biathlon World Cup |
| 2001–02 7 victories | 14 March 2002 | Lahti | 10 km sprint | Biathlon World Cup |
| 2001–02 7 victories | 17 March 2002 | Lahti | 12.5 km pursuit | Biathlon World Cup |
| 2001–02 7 victories | 24 March 2002 | Oslo Holmenkollen | 15 km mass start | Biathlon World Championships |
| 2002–03 2 victories | 19 December 2002 | Brezno-Osrblie | 10 km sprint | Biathlon World Cup |
| 2002–03 2 victories | 22 December 2002 | Brezno-Osrblie | 12.5 km pursuit | Biathlon World Cup |
| 2003–04 11 victories | 18 December 2003 | Brezno-Osrblie | 20 km individual | Biathlon World Cup |
| 2003–04 11 victories | 21 December 2003 | Brezno-Osrblie | 12.5 km pursuit | Biathlon World Cup |
| 2003–04 11 victories | 8 January 2004 | Pokljuka | 10 km sprint | Biathlon World Cup |
| 2003–04 11 victories | 25 January 2004 | Antholz-Anterselva | 15 km mass start | Biathlon World Cup |
| 2003–04 11 victories | 7 February 2004 | Oberhof | 10 km sprint | Biathlon World Championships |
| 2003–04 11 victories | 12 February 2004 | Oberhof | 20 km individual | Biathlon World Championships |
| 2003–04 11 victories | 15 February 2004 | Oberhof | 15 km mass start | Biathlon World Championships |
| 2003–04 11 victories | 29 February 2004 | Lake Placid | 12.5 km pursuit | Biathlon World Cup |
| 2003–04 11 victories | 4 March 2004 | Fort Kent | 10 km sprint | Biathlon World Cup |
| 2003–04 11 victories | 5 March 2004 | Fort Kent | 12.5 km pursuit | Biathlon World Cup |
| 2003–04 11 victories | 13 March 2004 | Oslo Holmenkollen | 12.5 km pursuit | Biathlon World Cup |
| 2004–05 3 victories | 19 December 2004 |  Östersund | 15 km mass start | Biathlon World Cup |
| 2004–05 3 victories | 9 January 2005 | Oberhof | 12.5 km pursuit | Biathlon World Cup |
| 2004–05 3 victories | 19 March 2005 | Khanty-Mansiysk | 15 km mass start | Biathlon World Cup |
| 2005–06 1 victory | 8 December 2005 | Hochfilzen | 20 km individual | Biathlon World Cup |
| 2006–07 6 victories | 14 December 2006 | Hochfilzen | 10 km sprint | Biathlon World Cup |
| 2006–07 6 victories | 6 February 2007 | Antholz-Anterselva | 20 km individual | Biathlon World Championships |
| 2006–07 6 victories | 1 March 2007 | Lahti | 20 km individual | Biathlon World Cup |
| 2006–07 6 victories | 3 March 2007 | Lahti | 10 km sprint | Biathlon World Cup |
| 2006–07 6 victories | 4 March 2007 | Lahti | 12.5 km pursuit | Biathlon World Cup |
| 2006–07 6 victories | 8 March 2007 | Oslo Holmenkollen | 20 km individual | Biathlon World Cup |