Virginie Phulpin 07:24, February 09, 2022

Every day, the morning of Europe 1 returns to one of the sporting events which makes the news.

This Wednesday, Virginie Phulpin wishes to highlight the biathlon.

According to her, we don't talk about this exceptional sport often enough.

France holds its first gold medal at the Beijing Olympics.

That of Quentin Fillon-Maillet yesterday in the biathlon, individually.

You are bragging to us about the charms of biathlon this morning.

You still have to be a bit crazy to practice biathlon.

In any case, you have to love suffering and have an attraction for opposites.

On cross-country skis, you have to give it your all, power, speed, glide, with burning thighs and throbbing at 10,000. Then you have to stop, bring everything back down, forget the pain to make precision speak , calm the tremors to make his visual acuity work.

And that 4 times on the course.

As if that weren't enough, we alternate standing, lying, standing, lying with the rifle.

And if you miss a target, everything can come crashing down.

Sorry, but it's a sick sport!

And what's great is that it's also one of the most telegenic sports.

We see everything in front of the screen.

We slide with the participants before stopping to breathe in front of the targets.

We also do calculations.

At a time when maths is coming back into fashion, biathlon can help us.

We count the penalty laps and the ticking seconds.

Competitors often collapse just after the finish line, completely washed out.

Like Quentin Fillon-Maillet yesterday in Beijing.

And we are almost in the same state on our sofa.

It's not a normal sport, it's interactive, it's augmented reality, biathlon! 

And in addition France is one of the best nations.

Admit it helps too.

When Martin Fourcade, our biathlon icon, five-time Olympic champion, hung up skis and rifle, we could have had an air pocket.

But not at all, France has a pool of crazy people who dominate biathlon.

Quentin Fillon-Maillet, unhappy 4 years ago in Pyongchang, with the gold medal today.

It's France's first in Beijing and it's a symbol of this winning team.

With the congratulations and the hug of Martin Fourcade on arrival.

Biathlon is a small world, 10,000 members in France, around thirty very high level biathletes, and successful handovers between the icon and the heirs.

This France team is envy.

For its results as well as for the camaraderie that emanates from it.

The Blues have already won three medals in Beijing in the biathlon.

And it's far from over.

Quentin Fillon-Maillet was talking about childhood dreams yesterday when he was crowned individual Olympic champion.

His stated goal, his dream come true.

And it also materializes a little ours.

There are plenty of reasons to be cautious about these Beijing Olympics, we weren't necessarily overjoyed at the opening ceremony.

We ask ourselves political, ecological and moral questions.

But biathlon and our champions have this merit and this virtue of plunging us back a little into the Olympic dream.

we weren't necessarily overjoyed at the opening ceremony.

We ask ourselves political, ecological and moral questions.

But biathlon and our champions have this merit and this virtue of plunging us back a little into the Olympic dream.

we weren't necessarily overjoyed at the opening ceremony.

We ask ourselves political, ecological and moral questions.

But biathlon and our champions have this merit and this virtue of plunging us back a little into the Olympic dream.