Emil Hegle Svendsen

Emil Hegle Svendsen (born 12 July 1985) is a retired Norwegian biathlete. He has won eight medals at Winter Olympics (four gold) and five individual gold medals and seven relay gold medals at World Championships.

He skis with Trondhjems Skiskyttere, based in his hometown Trondheim.

Career
The 2005–06 season was Svendsen's first season on the World Cup tour. Previously, he had competed as a junior in the European Cup, now known as the IBU cup. During his first season in the World Cup, Svendsen finished fifth in three races, two of them in sprints (Brezno-Osrblie and Ruhpolding), and the other in a mass start (Holmenkollen). He also finished races in seventh, ninth, and four more within the top twenty (14th, 15th, 17th, 19th). He finished the overall season in 22nd place. He was 32nd in the pursuit, 21st in the sprint, and 7th in the mass start, only seven points behind Sven Fischer in fourth place.

Svendsen was selected for the Olympics, to compete in the mass start, in which he came sixth, after hitting 18/20 targets and finished 53.8 seconds behind winner Michael Greis of Germany. As a junior, Svendsen won four gold medals in junior World Championships, his first and second gold was in the pursuit, and the relay in Haute Maurienne in 2004, and the third and fourth gold in the individual and the sprint in Kontiolahti in 2005. He also has two bronze medals from the individual and the pursuit in Kościelisko in 2003. During his three seasons in the European Cup, Svendsen won two races (individual and pursuit), one second place (sprint), and came third three times (all in the sprint).

For his first season in the World Cup Svendsen had an 82% shooting average, making him the 42nd best shot of the tour, but the same shooting percentage as Halvard Hanevold and Vincent Defrasne. He hit 243 out of 295 targets. He shot both 82% in his prone and standing shoot, he averaged 70% in the individual, 84% in the sprint, 81% in the pursuit, 87% in the mass start, and 76% in the relay.

On 13 December 2007, Svendsen took his first world cup victory, at the 20 km in Pokljuka. However, his big breakthrough came when he won two individual gold medals at the 2008 World Championships, winning both the individual and the mass start ahead of Ole Einar Bjørndalen. He went on winning more victories and podiums for the rest of the season, and eventually finished third overall.

The 2008/2009 season started off well for Svendsen. By placing on the podium in every one of the first five races, he took the lead in the overall world cup. After the Christmas holiday however, Svendsen struggled to maintain the early season's results, and when he fell ill during the world championships and did not compete in several races, he lost the overall lead. After a couple of middle placings, he returned with a third place at the mass start event in Trondheim, and a fourth place and a victory in Khanty Mansiysk the consecutive week.

He won a silver medal in the 10 km sprint at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver on the first day of men's biathlon competition and then followed it up with two gold medals in the 20 km individual and the relay event.

He won 2 gold medals in 2014 Winter Olympics: in mass-start and mixed relay (together with Ole Einar Bjørndalen, Tiril Eckhoff and Tora Berger).

Svendsen is 6 ft 1 in (185 cm) tall, and weighs 170 lb (77 kg, 12 st 2 lb)

On 9 April 2018, he announced his retirement from biathlon following the 2017–2018 season.

Personal life
Svendsen was in a relationship with a fellow biathlete Kaja Eckhoff, sister of the biathletes Stian and Tiril Eckhoff, for several years after meeting her in the early 2000s at the Norges Toppidrettsgymnas in Lillehammer where they both studied as teenagers, before breaking up in the summer of 2011.

He then was in a relationship with Samantha Skogrand from November 2013 to autumn 2022. They got engaged in December 2016, but never married. In January 2019 the couple became parents to a son whom they named Magnus and in July 2021 they welcomed their second child - daughter Elsa. The family resided in Oslo. They announced their separation in a joint statement on Instagram on 28 April 2023.

After retiring from competition in 2018 Svendsen decided to study for a bachelor's degree in business administration. While studying he worked as a biathlon expert for the Norwegian TV channel NRK in 2019-2021 and a coach with the privately-funded Norwegian biathlon youth team Meistebakken. As of 2023 he has finished his studies and is working for the Norwegian real estate company Fredensborg Fritid as a real estate developer.

Biathlon results
All results are sourced from the International Biathlon Union.

Olympic Games
8 medals (4 gold, 3 silver, 1 bronze)
 * *The mixed relay was added as an event in 2014.

World Championships
21 medals (12 gold, 6 silver, 3 bronze)
 * *During Olympic seasons competitions are only held for those events not included in the Olympic program.

Individual victories
38 victories (8 In, 11 Sp, 12 Pu, 7 MS)
 * *Results are from UIPMB and IBU races which include the Biathlon World Cup, Biathlon World Championships and the Winter Olympic Games.