When Johannes Thingnes Bö and Tarjei Bö wait for the bus, their down coats touch for a brief moment.

Johannes Thingnes Bö in white, Tarjei Bö in light blue.

The two brothers stand side by side.

They joke, laugh, the two of them seem as if the next family trip is about to begin.

Only the picnic basket is missing.

Stefanie Sippel

sports editor.

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The emotional baggage, dropped.

After the ten-kilometer sprint on Saturday, Johannes Thingnes Bö leans on his poles, cross-country skis in his right hand.

He runs, wiping the tears from his eyes.

He doesn't know what to do with himself - until he sees his brother.

He hugs him, he closes his eyes.

His breathing becomes calmer.

It's almost as if Tarjei Bö, older brother and bronze medalist, has to comfort his younger brother, gold medalist.

Half an hour later, the two brothers are sitting on the podium in the press center.

Both with a serious look, both speak slowly, calmly, give weight to their sentences.

"I'm really proud of him," says Johannes Thingnes Bö.

"He's the reason why I'm sitting here today." As a teenager, he was initially interested in football, and from 2009 he tried biathlon because of his brother.

And that evening, the younger brother only seems to have his older brother on his mind.

His struggles, his lost races;

everything that makes biathlon so exciting and difficult.

"He fought for this medal for so long," says Johannes Thingnes Bö.

And it shows something about the relationship between the two brothers that first of all they don't talk about themselves but about each other.

Tarjei Bö was only missing the Olympic medal in an individual race.

The Norwegians had already won the relay in China.

Tarjei's second relay gold after 2010. In the 2010/11 season he was the youngest overall World Cup winner - at the age of 22.

But health problems followed.

Changing roles for the brothers

At his last Olympic Games he got an individual medal twice, at the age of 33 – shortly before the end of his career.

His 28-year-old brother had long since overtaken him, and he is as good a runner as hardly anyone else. 2018/19, 2019/20, 2020/21, always overall winner, he has won three medals in Zhangjiakou alone.

The most successful biathlete in history.

And a rival in his career, Frenchman Quentin Fillon Maillet was also close behind him on Saturday, silver.

This rival will play a role again on Sunday over 12.5 kilometers.

Johannes Thingnes Bö stands at the shooting range, a gust of wind swirls the snow through the air, missed.

Maillet overtakes, the younger gust falls behind.

In the end he is fifth – directly behind him is the German Roman Rees.

Johannes Kühn is 12th, Philipp Nawrath 19th, Benedikt Doll 32nd. For the older brother Tarjei - maybe also because his brother is unlucky at the shooting range - it will be a medal, the second: silver, behind the Frenchman Maillet.

On the home stretch he looks around.

Is he checking on his brother?

Or the man behind him?

Then he lies on his stomach, breathing, breathing, his chest rising and falling.

Role change for the brothers, now Tarjei is the one who waits.

He gets up, looks at the swirling snow, looks for his brother.

Arrived at the finish, Johannes Thingnes Bö runs to his brother, hug.

Tarjei Bö says he had to hurry before his little brother grew up.

The foreboding among brothers who have been fighting fights since they were little boys.

The conditions helped on Sunday – even if the brother has long since grown up.

With older age, the relationship between the brothers has changed.

"If you have problems, if you have bad days, he is a great support," says Tarjei Bö.

The little brother saw everything: missed opportunities, bad races, injuries.

"We talk to each other a lot," says Tarjei Bö.

Of course everyone has to find their own way.

"But he's always the one I ask."

Tarjei and Johannes Thingnes Bö's parents are Klement Bö, cattle breeder, and Aslaug Hildegunn Thingnes Bö, physiotherapist, they were born in Stryn, Norway.

Both now live in Lillehammer, where they train.

Tarjei says, "Our lives are pretty much the same."

On Sunday he had to stand on the podium without his brother.

The feeling was a bit strange today, he said.

Yesterday he was able to share the emotional victory with his brother.

"It was so difficult for everyone today." He never felt safe.

"But I seem to have found the right path." He is now at his peak at the Olympic Games.

And have progressed mentally.

His brother also helped him.

He discusses all things with him.

"By discussing things with him, I get the answers I need," he said.

"Because he knows me." Tonight it will be the older of the Bö brothers who will set the younger one up.

In the relay over 4 × 7.5 kilometers on Tuesday, they could be on the podium together again.

Then the podium would become the “Bödium” again.