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.
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."Poiree wins Gold in Individual and announces retirement" – Article from biathlonworld.com, 4 February 2007 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."Adieu Raphaël Poirée!"
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 in the Hålandsdal area of Bjørnafjorden Municipality in 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.Liv Grete og Raphael Poirée separeres TV2, 5 July 2013, retrieved 9 July 2013
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."Poiree finally leaves hospital following quad-bike crash" Article from CTV, 26 January 2010
He speaks French, English, Norwegian and Italian
Biathlon results All results are sourced from the International Biathlon Union.
Olympic Games 3 medals (1 silver, 2 bronze) EventIndividualSprintPursuitRelay 1998 Nagano 22nd DNF 7th 2002 Salt Lake City 10th 9th Silver Bronze 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) EventIndividualSprintPursuitTeamRelay 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 *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 Position1994–95 20 0 0 0 1995–96 21 108 17th 59 14th 49 20th 1996–97 22 150 16th 29 26th 87 13th 34 12th 1997–98 23 249 5th 42 12th 161 2nd 46 7th 1998–99 24 365 5th 26 15th 107 11th 185 1st 47 2nd1999–00 25 470 1st 68 2nd 153 3rd 172 3rd 77 1st2000–01 26 921 1st 83 7th 375 2nd 278 1st 136 3rd2001–02 27 805 1st 88 5th 233 3rd 362 1st 100 2nd2002–03 28 591 4th 32 23rd 226 4th 199 3rd 114 3rd2003–04 29 1010 1st 146 1st 358 1st 331 1st 140 1st2004–05 30 869 3rd 99 6th 277 3rd 374 3rd 146 1st2005–06 31 695 2nd 83 3rd 245 3rd 200 3rd 157 2nd2006–07 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 Ruhpolding10 km sprintBiathlon World Cup 1998–99 4 victories (3 Pu, 1 MS) 12 December 1998 Hochfilzen12.5 km pursuitBiathlon World Cup 13 January 1999 Ruhpolding15 km mass startBiathlon World Cup 17 January 1999 Ruhpolding12.5 km pursuitBiathlon World Cup 27 February 1999 Lake Placid12.5 km pursuitBiathlon World Cup 1999–2000 3 victories (1 In, 1 Sp, 1 MS) 15 December 1999 Pokljuka20 km individualBiathlon World Cup 20 January 2000 Antholz-Anterselva10 km sprintBiathlon World Cup 26 February 2000 Oslo Holmenkollen15 km mass startBiathlon World Championships 2000–01 6 victories (3 Sp, 2 Pu, 1 MS) 7 December 2000 Antholz-Anterselva10 km sprintBiathlon World Cup 8 December 2000 Antholz-Anterselva12.5 km pursuitBiathlon World Cup 15 December 2000 Antholz-Anterselva10 km sprintBiathlon World Cup 4 January 2001 Oberhof10 km sprintBiathlon World Cup 14 January 2001 Ruhpolding12.5 km pursuitBiathlon World Cup 9 February 2001 Pokljuka15 km mass startBiathlon World Championships 2001–02 7 victories (2 Sp, 3 Pu, 2 MS) 16 December 2001 Pokljuka12.5 km pursuitBiathlon World Cup 12 January 2002 Oberhof15 km mass startBiathlon World Cup 18 January 2002 Ruhpolding10 km sprintBiathlon World Cup 27 January 2002 Antholz-Anterselva12.5 km pursuitBiathlon World Cup 14 March 2002 Lahti10 km sprintBiathlon World Cup 17 March 2002 Lahti12.5 km pursuitBiathlon World Cup 24 March 2002 Oslo Holmenkollen15 km mass startBiathlon World Championships 2002–03 2 victories (1 Sp, 1 Pu) 19 December 2002 Brezno-Osrblie10 km sprintBiathlon World Cup 22 December 2002 Brezno-Osrblie12.5 km pursuitBiathlon World Cup 2003–04 11 victories (2 In, 3 Sp, 4 Pu, 2 MS) 18 December 2003 Brezno-Osrblie20 km individualBiathlon World Cup 21 December 2003 Brezno-Osrblie12.5 km pursuitBiathlon World Cup 8 January 2004 Pokljuka10 km sprintBiathlon World Cup 25 January 2004 Antholz-Anterselva15 km mass startBiathlon World Cup 7 February 2004 Oberhof10 km sprintBiathlon World Championships 12 February 2004 Oberhof20 km individualBiathlon World Championships 15 February 2004 Oberhof15 km mass startBiathlon World Championships 29 February 2004 Lake Placid12.5 km pursuitBiathlon World Cup 4 March 2004 Fort Kent10 km sprintBiathlon World Cup 5 March 2004 Fort Kent12.5 km pursuitBiathlon World Cup 13 March 2004 Oslo Holmenkollen12.5 km pursuitBiathlon World Cup 2004–05 3 victories (1 Pu, 2 MS) 19 December 2004 Östersund15 km mass startBiathlon World Cup 9 January 2005 Oberhof12.5 km pursuitBiathlon World Cup 19 March 2005 Khanty-Mansiysk15 km mass startBiathlon World Cup 2005–06 1 victory (1 In) 8 December 2005 Hochfilzen20 km individualBiathlon World Cup 2006–07 6 victories (3 In, 2 Sp, 1 Pu) 14 December 2006 Hochfilzen10 km sprintBiathlon World Cup 6 February 2007 Antholz-Anterselva20 km individualBiathlon World Championships 1 March 2007 Lahti20 km individualBiathlon World Cup 3 March 2007 Lahti10 km sprintBiathlon World Cup 4 March 2007 Lahti12.5 km pursuitBiathlon World Cup 8 March 2007 Oslo Holmenkollen20 km individualBiathlon 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
References
External links
"Adieu Raphael Poiree!" – Article from biathlonworld.com 11 March 2007 Fansite of Raphael and Liv Grete Poirée Fansite about Poirée and other French biathletes Holmenkollen biathlon information