Accuracy is a kingly virtue

Biathlete Anton Smolski brought the first medal for the Belarusian team at the Olympic Games in Beijing. He finished second in the individual race after hitting all 20 targets.

We’ve made a start! Biathlete Anton Smolski opened the scoring for the Belarusian team at the Olympic Games in Beijing, winning a silver medal in the individual race. The President congratulated Anton Smolski on his successful performance in the most difficult race. “This season you burst into the elite of the world biathlon and climbed the podium at the main competition of the four-year period. An Olympic medal won in an uncompromising struggle against the strongest athletes on the planet is a great success for you personally, for the team, and for the whole country,” reads the greeting.  Aleksandr Lukashenko wished the athlete sound health, good luck, and new victories.

Photo by BELTA


… Anton Smolski is 25 years old, and the Beijing Olympics are the second in his career. In the four years that have passed since the debut Games in Pyeongchang, the biathlete managed to become not only the leader of our national team but also a serious competitor for elite athletes in the World Cup, where he became the bronze medallist in individual races three times this season. However, the Olympic Games are a completely different story compared to the cup races, and hardly anyone considered the Belarusian a favourite in the very first individual race.
20 out of 20 — a perfect performance on the shooting range was the main advantage of Smolski in the 20 km race.

In addition to him, only Kazakhstani biathlete Vladislav Kireyev could accurately cope with the shooting, but he was not able to compete with the leaders in speed. Anton made no real secret: he learned from the individual performance of Dzinara Alimbekava, who was deprived of gold the day before by a single miss in the final standing. As a result, Smolski is on the podium, surrounded by the finest athletes! Next to him is the winner of the race and the leader of the current World Cup, the Frenchman Quentin Fillon Maillet, who made two misses and ‘granted’ Anton 14.8 seconds at the finish line. On the third step of the podium is the owner of three Big Crystal Globe trophies — the Norwegian Johannes Thingnes Bø. Well done, Anton!

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After the race, Anton Smolski took part in the traditional Olympic Choice project. The biathlete chose the Kopyl Specialised Children and Youth Olympic Reserve School: it will receive free financial assistance in the amount of Br20,000 (about $7,800) from the Presidential Sports Club, of which, by the way, Anton was a scholarship holder.

Representatives of the men’s biathlon team have not had such success at the main competition of the four-year period for a long time. More precisely, since 2010, when Sergey Novikov won a silver medal in the individual race, climbing one step of the podium along with the legendary Norwegian Ole Einar Bjørndalen.

By Tatiana Pastushenko