"Mr. biathlon" from the Soviet Union Alexander Tikhonov

In the years of the Soviet Union national team in biathlon was one of the strongest in the world. Men's relay team had no equal for four white Olympics in a row, starting from Grenoble and ending with victory in Lake Placid. Its structure is consistently ranked Alexander Tikhonov, a biathlete from God, fifteen times champion of the USSR, winner of the World Cup.

The first steps

Father Alexander Tikhonov was a teacher of physical training in the local school, while his mother worked as an accountant, and their shared passion was skiing. With such parents, he just could not stay away from the sport. His first confident steps on winter roads Alexander made under the direction of Oleg Gorokhov.

When they came to important successes, he was invited to the national team of the USSR, which was trained by Eugene Glinski. "Godfather", through which Alexander Tikhonov obedient to the top of the world, has become a famous namesake - biathlete Privalov.

Olympic champion Alexander Tikhonov

In 1968, a young promising athlete took part in the X Olympic Winter Games in Grenoble in the French. And the first attempt sensationally won the silver medal in the individual race at 20 km, with two penalties. In this discipline, he lost only Norwegian Magnar Solberg, who showed a flawless shooting.

The debut Olympics was happy for Alexander - the main success was waiting for him in the relay 4 x 7, 5 km. "Miner" in the first stage, which gave a great advantage of the Soviet team, it was him. USSR squad won the award the highest standard, ahead of the Norwegians almost 2 minutes. Swedes finished third, showing the best shooting among the 14 countries.

"The Road" gold

Probably the most memorable for Alexander Ivanovich was the victory in 1972 at the XI Olympic Winter Games in Sapporo, Japan. Again by the decision of the coach coming to the launch stage, he led the relay race and left far behind rivals. But then the unexpected happened - his ski broke, and along the route was not one of the members of the team to replace the equipment. On one ski does not go far, and Tikhonov began to overtake the persecutors. Somebody else, maybe to stop the fight, but the Olympic champion continued his ski course of almost a kilometer.

The heroic efforts of the Soviet biathlete were seen by the German athlete Dieter Speer team of the GDR, which at this time warming up before their third stage of the relay. He gave his own ski, which, unfortunately, did not come because of the size of attachments. Immediately came with the right inventory reserve athlete of the Soviet national team, and Alexander Tikhonov was able to catch up with the peloton, finishing ninth. Teammates were impressed with his dedication and supported by the will to win, having won so expensive "gold."

Alexander Tikhonov: biathlon - his life

During his long career athlete won numerous awards: it eleven times world champion, twice climbed the second step of the podium and the same time won the bronze medal. His crown discipline was the individual race at 20 km, which is often called "royal." Twice Alexander became the winner of the World Cup in the sprint at 10 km, thus proving that the planet is the fastest biathlete. And of course, he is simply irreplaceable in the Relay competition: thanks to his participation of the Soviet Union team won six times at the world championships, twice became the silver medal and one - bronze. In 1976, a gold medal piggy USSR replenished the highest standard at the XII Olympic Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria. This time Alexander Tikhonov ran in the final stage and, thanks to the coordinated work of the team, ahead of their closest pursuers almost 4 minutes!

In 1977, the international community awarded him the title of "Mr. biathlon."

For the fourth gold had to fly across the ocean, in American Lake Placid. At this time, the triple champion was the standard bearer of the team. XIII Olympic Winter Games were happy to Soviet biathletes - on both sides of the USSR team at the podium stood the GDR athletes and Germany respectively.

In 1980, Alexander Tikhonov decided to end his brilliant career as an active athlete and began coaching. His record number of top awards at the Olympic Games and World Championships Biathlon among lasted for 22 years.

Coach, entrepreneur and president of SBR

Some time Alexander has coached the youth team of the USSR biathlon. During the collapse of the Soviet Union, as well as many in the country, he tried his hand at business.

In 1996, the famous athlete headed the Russian Biathlon Union. As president of the RRF he worked until 2008. At present, the famous Olympic champion continues to follow the news and sports leads your blog on a personal website.

And Alexander Tikhonov, biathlon for which was the start in life, together with the Kalashnikov Concern has worked to improve small arms. On account of his 8 patents.

For services to the sport of biathlon International Federation of Alexander Ivanovich awarded the title of "best biathlete of the twentieth century."