NPR

U.S. Biathlon Team Speaks Out For Gun Control

The sport's athletes must ski across the course, then calm their breathing and use rifles to fire at a target. For biathletes, the fact that their sport involves firearms isn't always comfortable.
Tim Burke and other American biathletes spoke out about guns after the shooting in Parkland, Fla. Burke is seen here during the 10km Sprint Biathlon on Feb. 11 at the Pyeongchang Olympic Games.

Biathlon links two things that don't often go together, at least in the United States: cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It's the only Winter Olympic sport in which the U.S. has never medaled.

The sport "combines the power and aggression of cross-country skiing with the precision and calm of marksmanship," the Olympics says, adding that biathlon "has its roots in survival skills practised

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