Raphaël Poirée

Raphaël Poirée (born 9 August 1974) 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.Template:Clarify

Poirée has four IBU World Cup titles (1999−00, 2000−01, 2001−02 and 2003−04). 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 (2000, 2002, and 2004), one pursuit (2004) and one individual (2007).

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.<ref>"Poiree wins Gold in Individual and announces retirement" Template:Webarchive – Article from biathlonworld.com, 4 February 2007</ref> He eventually chose to retire after the Holmenkollen World Cup meet (i.e. before the season's last WC meet, in Khanty-Mansyisk in Russia the week after); 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.<ref>"Adieu Raphaël Poirée!" Template:Webarchive</ref>

Personal life

He married 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 (born 27 January 2003), Anna (born 10 January 2007) and Lena (born 10 October 2008). 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.<ref>Liv Grete og Raphael Poirée separeres Template:In lang TV2, 5 July 2013, retrieved 9 July 2013</ref>

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.<ref>"Poiree finally leaves hospital following quad-bike crash" Article from CTV, 26 January 2010</ref>

He speaks French, English, Norwegian and Italian

Biathlon results

All results are sourced from the International Biathlon Union.<ref name="IBUprofile">Template:Cite web</ref>

Olympic Games

3 medals (1 silver, 2 bronze)

Event	Individual	Sprint	Pursuit	Template:Nowrap	Relay
Template:Flagicon 1998 Nagano	22nd	DNF	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	7th
Template:Flagicon 2002 Salt Lake City	10th	9th	Silver	Template:N/a	Bronze
Template:Flagicon 2006 Turin	20th	8th	DNF	12th	Bronze

*Pursuit was added as an event in 2002, with mass start being added in 2006.

World Championships

18 medals (8 gold, 3 silver, 7 bronze)

Event	Individual	Sprint	Pursuit	Template:Nowrap	Team	Relay	Template:Nowrap
Template:Flagicon 1996 Ruhpolding	67th	23rd	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	10th	5th	Template:N/a
Template:Flagicon 1997 Brezno-Osrblie	14th	59th	—	Template:N/a	7th	5th	Template:N/a
Template:Flagicon 1998 Pokljuka	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Bronze	Template:N/a	7th	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
Template:Flagicon 1999 Kontiolahti	19th	26th	11th	9th	Template:N/a	12th	Template:N/a
Template:Flagicon 2000 Oslo Holmenkollen	4th	6th	Bronze	Gold	Template:N/a	10th	Template:N/a
Template:Flagicon 2001 Pokljuka	37th	7th	Silver	Gold	Template:N/a	Gold	Template:N/a
Template:Flagicon 2002 Oslo Holmenkollen	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Gold	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
Template:Flagicon 2003 Khanty-Mansiysk	7th	DNF	—	Bronze	Template:N/a	13th	Template:N/a
Template:Flagicon 2004 Oberhof	Gold	Gold	Silver	Gold	Template:N/a	Bronze	Template:N/a
Template:Flagicon 2005 Hochfilzen	8th	13th	9th	Bronze	Template:N/a	5th	6th
Template:Flagicon 2006 Pokljuka	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Bronze
Template:Flagicon 2007 Antholz-Anterselva	Gold	8th	6th	Bronze	Template:N/a	—	Silver

*During Olympic seasons competitions are only held for those events not included in the Olympic program.

**Team was removed as an event in 1998, and pursuit was added in 1997 with mass start being added in 1999 and the mixed relay in 2005.

World Cup

Season	Age	Overall		Individual		Sprint		Pursuit		Mass start
		Points	Position	Points	Position	Points	Position	Points	Position	Points	Position
1994–95	20	0	Template:N/a	0	Template:N/a	0	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
1995–96	21	108	17th	59	14th	49	20th	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
1996–97	22	150	16th	29	26th	87	13th	34	12th	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
1997–98	23	249	5th	42	12th	161	2nd	46	7th	Template:N/a	Template:N/a
1998–99	24	365	5th	26	15th	107	11th	185	1st	47	2nd
1999–00	25	470	1st	68	2nd	153	3rd	172	3rd	77	1st
2000–01	26	921	1st	83	7th	375	2nd	278	1st	136	3rd
2001–02	27	805	1st	88	5th	233	3rd	362	1st	100	2nd
2002–03	28	591	4th	32	23rd	226	4th	199	3rd	114	3rd
2003–04	29	1010	1st	146	1st	358	1st	331	1st	140	1st
2004–05	30	869	3rd	99	6th	277	3rd	374	3rd	146	1st
2005–06	31	695	2nd	83	3rd	245	3rd	200	3rd	157	2nd
2006–07	32	709	3rd	150	1st	207	6th	173	7th	147	3rd

*Pursuit was added as an event in the 1996–97 season, and mass start was added in the 1998–99 season.

Individual victories

44 victories (7 In, 13 Sp, 15 Pu, 9 MS)

Season	Date	Location	Discipline	Level
1997–98 1 victory (1 Sp)	8 January 1998	Template:Flagicon Ruhpolding	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
1998–99 4 victories (3 Pu, 1 MS)	12 December 1998	Template:Flagicon Hochfilzen	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Cup
	13 January 1999	Template:Flagicon Ruhpolding	15 km mass start	Biathlon World Cup
	17 January 1999	Template:Flagicon Ruhpolding	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Cup
	27 February 1999	Template:Flagicon Lake Placid	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Cup
1999–2000 3 victories (1 In, 1 Sp, 1 MS)	15 December 1999	Template:Flagicon Pokljuka	20 km individual	Biathlon World Cup
	20 January 2000	Template:Flagicon Antholz-Anterselva	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
	26 February 2000	Template:Flagicon Oslo Holmenkollen	15 km mass start	Biathlon World Championships
2000–01 6 victories (3 Sp, 2 Pu, 1 MS)	7 December 2000	Template:Flagicon Antholz-Anterselva	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
	8 December 2000	Template:Flagicon Antholz-Anterselva	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Cup
	15 December 2000	Template:Flagicon Antholz-Anterselva	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
	4 January 2001	Template:Flagicon Oberhof	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
	14 January 2001	Template:Flagicon Ruhpolding	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Cup
	9 February 2001	Template:Flagicon Pokljuka	15 km mass start	Biathlon World Championships
2001–02 7 victories (2 Sp, 3 Pu, 2 MS)	16 December 2001	Template:Flagicon Pokljuka	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Cup
	12 January 2002	Template:Flagicon Oberhof	15 km mass start	Biathlon World Cup
	18 January 2002	Template:Flagicon Ruhpolding	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
	27 January 2002	Template:Flagicon Antholz-Anterselva	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Cup
	14 March 2002	Template:Flagicon Lahti	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
	17 March 2002	Template:Flagicon Lahti	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Cup
	24 March 2002	Template:Flagicon Oslo Holmenkollen	15 km mass start	Biathlon World Championships
2002–03 2 victories (1 Sp, 1 Pu)	19 December 2002	Template:Flagicon Brezno-Osrblie	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
	22 December 2002	Template:Flagicon Brezno-Osrblie	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Cup
2003–04 11 victories (2 In, 3 Sp, 4 Pu, 2 MS)	18 December 2003	Template:Flagicon Brezno-Osrblie	20 km individual	Biathlon World Cup
	21 December 2003	Template:Flagicon Brezno-Osrblie	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Cup
	8 January 2004	Template:Flagicon Pokljuka	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
	25 January 2004	Template:Flagicon Antholz-Anterselva	15 km mass start	Biathlon World Cup
	7 February 2004	Template:Flagicon Oberhof	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Championships
	12 February 2004	Template:Flagicon Oberhof	20 km individual	Biathlon World Championships
	15 February 2004	Template:Flagicon Oberhof	15 km mass start	Biathlon World Championships
	29 February 2004	Template:Flagicon Lake Placid	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Cup
	4 March 2004	Template:Flagicon Fort Kent	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
	5 March 2004	Template:Flagicon Fort Kent	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Cup
	13 March 2004	Template:Flagicon Oslo Holmenkollen	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Cup
2004–05 3 victories (1 Pu, 2 MS)	19 December 2004	Template:Flagicon Östersund	15 km mass start	Biathlon World Cup
	9 January 2005	Template:Flagicon Oberhof	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Cup
	19 March 2005	Template:Flagicon Khanty-Mansiysk	15 km mass start	Biathlon World Cup
2005–06 1 victory (1 In)	8 December 2005	Template:Flagicon Hochfilzen	20 km individual	Biathlon World Cup
2006–07 6 victories (3 In, 2 Sp, 1 Pu)	14 December 2006	Template:Flagicon Hochfilzen	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
	6 February 2007	Template:Flagicon Antholz-Anterselva	20 km individual	Biathlon World Championships
	1 March 2007	Template:Flagicon Lahti	20 km individual	Biathlon World Cup
	3 March 2007	Template:Flagicon Lahti	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
	4 March 2007	Template:Flagicon Lahti	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Cup
	8 March 2007	Template:Flagicon Oslo Holmenkollen	20 km individual	Biathlon World Cup

*Results are from UIPMB and IBU races which include the Biathlon World Cup, Biathlon World Championships and the Winter Olympic Games.

See also

• List of Olympic medalist families

External links

• Template:IBU name
• Template:FIS cross-country skier
• "Adieu Raphael Poiree!" – Article from biathlonworld.com 11 March 2007
• Fansite of Raphael and Liv Grete Poirée
• Fansite about Poirée and other French biathletes Template:In lang
• Holmenkollen biathlon information Template:Webarchive