Biathlon at the 2006 Winter Olympics – Women's relay

Women's biathlon relay at the XX Olympic Winter Games
Venue	Cesana San Sicario
Dates	February 23
Competitors	72 from 18 nations
Winning time	1:16:12.5
Medalists
Russia Anna Bogaliy, Svetlana Ishmouratova, Olga Zaitseva, Albina Akhatova   Germany Martina Glagow, Andrea Henkel, Katrin Apel, Kati Wilhelm   France Delphyne Peretto, Florence Baverel-Robert, Sylvie Becaert, Sandrine Bailly

Biathlon at the 2006 Winter Olympics
Individual		men		women
Sprint		men		women
Pursuit		men		women
Mass start		men		women
Relay		men		women

The Women's 4 x 6 kilometre biathlon relay competition at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy was held on 23 February, at Cesana San Sicario. Each national team consisted of four members, with each skiing 6 kilometres and shooting twice, once prone and once standing.

At each shooting station, a competitor has eight shots to hit five targets; however, only five bullets are loaded in a magazine at one - if additional shots are required, the spare bullets must be loaded one at a time. If after the eight shots are taken, there are still targets not yet hit, the competitor must ski a 150-metre penalty loop.^[1]

Germany won the relay event at the 2002 Winter Olympics, while Russia's women were the defending World Champions after beating Germany by 41.4 seconds at the 2005 World Championship; Russia also led the World Cup standings after four relay events.

Despite missing the veteran Olga Pyleva, suspended for two years after failing an anti-doping test last week, the Russian team led from start to finish. The Germans finished 50.7 seconds behind for the silver. The French team took the bronze.^[2]

Results

^[3]

Rank	Team	Penalties	Result
	Russia Anna Bogaliy Svetlana Ishmouratova Olga Zaitseva Albina Akhatova	0+2 0+1 0+1 0+0 0+0	1:16:12.5 19:06.3 18:56.2 19:06.8 19:03.2
	Germany Martina Glagow Andrea Henkel Katrin Apel Kati Wilhelm	1+8 0+3 0+2 1+3 0+0	1:17:03.2 19:18.8 19:15.9 19:45.5 18:43.0
	France Delphyne Peretto Florence Baverel-Robert Sylvie Becaert Sandrine Bailly	0+8 0+3 0+1 0+2 0+2	1:18:38.7 20:46.5 19:02.6 19:50.2 18:59.4
4	Belarus Ekaterina Ivanova Olga Nazarova Ludmilla Ananko Olena Zubrilova	0+8 0+2 0+4 0+1 0+1	1:19:19.6 19:33.0 19:45.8 19:53.9 20:06.9
5	Norway Tora Berger Liv Grete Poirée Gunn Margit Andreassen Linda Tjorhom	1+13 1+4 0+2 0+3 0+4	1:19:34.4 20:28.1 18:43.2 20:32.0 19:51.1
6	Slovenia Teja Gregorin Andreja Mali Dijana Grudiček Tadeja Brankovič	1+11 0+0 0+1 0+4 1+6	1:19:55.7 19:45.2 20:09.8 19:44.5 20:16.2
7	Poland Krystyna Pałka Magdalena Gwizdon Katarzyna Ponikwia Magdalena Grzywa	0+8 0+3 0+3 0+2 0+0	1:20:29.3 20:11.1 19:39.3 20:15.5 20:23.4
8	Bulgaria Pavlina Filipova Radka Popova Irina Nikoultchina Ekaterina Dafovska	3+14 0+0 1+3 1+6 1+5	1:20:38.7 19:17.7 20:43.1 20:27.2 20:10.7
9	China Kong Yingchao Sun Ribo Yin Qiao Liu Xianying	2+13 0+0 1+5 1+4 0+4	1:21:43.7 19:51.1 20:41.5 20:55.3 20:15.8
10	Slovakia Anna Murinova Marcela Pavkovcekova Martina Halinarova Sona Mihokova	1+10 0+3 0+6 0+4 0+4	1:25:01.4 21:19.3 20:57.9 21:39.9 21:04.3
11	Ukraine Oksana Khvostenko Olena Petrova Nina Lemesh Lilia Efremova	3+14 0+0 0+2 2+6 1+6	1:21:55.5 20:14.2 19:36.7 21:37.5 20:27.1
12	Italy Michela Ponza Saskia Santer Nathalie Santer Katja Haller	3+9 0+0 0+2 2+6 1+6	1:22:42.7 19:22.7 20:38.3 22:01.1 20:40.6
13	Czech Republic Katerina Holubcova Lenka Faltusova Magda Rezlerova Zdenka Vejnarova	1+12 0+1 0+1 0+6 1+4	1:24:14.8 20:47.3 20:34.8 21:23.6 21:29.1
14	Romania Dana Elena Plotogea Eva Tofalvi Mihaela Purdea Alexandra Rusu	3+18 0+6 0+3 2+5 1+4	1:25:13.3 21:26.7 19:38.1 22:09.8 21:58.7
15	United States Rachel Steer Tracey Barnes Rachel Steer Carolyn Treacy	0+11 0+4 0+2 0+2 0+3	1:25:20.3 20:31.1 22:07.0 21:21.7 21:20.5
16	Japan Tomomi Otaka Kanae Meguro Tamami Tanaka Ikuyo Tsukidate	4+14 2+5 0+2 1+4 1+3	1:26:09.0 23:21.2 19:58.5 21:21.3 21:28.0
17	Canada Zina Kocher Sandra Keith Martine Albert Marie Pierre Parent	1+10 0+1 0+3 0+2 1+4	1:26:21.3 20:24.3 21:32.8 21:25.2 22:47.4
18	Latvia Madara Liduma Anzela Brice Linda Savlaka Gerda Krumina	2+11 0+3 0+1 0+1 2+6	1:26:21.3 19:35.8 20:57.9 22:07.3 23:40.3

The penalties column is in the format: "total penalties + used spare rounds".

References

1. Wallechinsky, David (2002). The Complete Book of the Winter Olympics. New York: The Overlook Press. p. 320. ISBN 1-58567-185-1.
2. "Sharp-shooting Russians dedicate gold to drug cheat". ABC. 2006-02-24. Retrieved 2009-09-21.
3. "Torino 2006 Official Report - Biathlon" (PDF). Torino Organizing Committee. LA84 Foundation. March 2009. Retrieved September 21, 2009.