Russia’s biathlon relay team revealed the secret to their success following their gold medal victory on Tuesday, reports AFP.
“Go ahead and have babies — and get better in sports,” said Russian anchor Olga Zaitseva, 31, in a word of advice to the French and German teams, who won silver and bronze respectively.
Zaitseva told AFP that having her son, Alexander, who was born in 2007, helped her become a better athlete. “My child is my greatest happiness and he is my best little gold medal,” she said. “It has made me calmer.”
The four-member Russian team boasted three mothers, and Zaitseva’s advice was echoed by the two other mothers.
“No medal compares to having a child,” said Anna Boulygina, 30. “I think children are the main thing women are designed to do. Having a family is an enormous help to me and it is due to their support that I am able to achieve this result, so the answer is yes, it helps.”
Olga Medvedtseva, 34, said that athletes hoping to win Olympic medals should not fear that children would hurt their chances. “I would say it is a very stimulating experience and I would recommend having kids, don’t be afraid of it, you will only get better as you are all so young,” she said.
The biathlon combines cross-country skiing with rifle shooting. In the women’s relay, each athlete completes a 6 km leg with two stops at a shooting range. For every missed target, they must complete an extra 150-metre penalty lap.
The Russian team finished with a time of 1hr 9min 36.3sec, ahead of France at 1hr 10min 09.1sec. The Germans competed without their star athlete, Magdalena Neuner, who sat out the race after having already won two golds and a silver. They lost narrowly to the French with a time of 1hr 10min 13.4sec.
