by Chris Bodenner

A reader does his best to get you psyched:

Re: The Sex Appeal Competition, Ctd: "In the winter, it's downhill, ski jumping, bobsledding, speed skating, and the like. Cross country? Biathlon? Eh, not so much."

Completely wrong.  Biathlon has been my favorite Winter Olympics sport for a decade, ever since the Eurosport coverage of the Salt Lake games was the only English-language TV programming in my Italian hotel room.  It's tremendously exciting once you understand the rules, and perfect material for a live television broadcast.

Biathlon is a combination of cross-country skiing and rifle shooting.  It used to be called military patrol and the basic goal is to be Simo Hayha.  Competitors sling a rifle over their back, ski a two-mile lap, arrive at the shooting area, fire off five shots at the target, sling the rifle back over their back and head out onto the course for another lap. Repeat five times or so.  

Granted, the skiing is boring, but the excitement comes at the firing range because racing and shooting are polar opposites and each cycle at the range shakes up the race order.