Egil Gjelland

Egil Gjelland was born on 12 November 1973 in Voss, Norway. He is a former biathlete and an Olympic champion with the relay team in 2002 in Salt Lake City, alongside his teammates Frode Andresen, Halvard Hanevold and Ole Einar Bjørndalen. Throughout his entire career, it was well known that Gjelland's specialty was the shooting, one of the two factors for successful results in biathlon. A carpenter by trade, Gjelland's first year in the sport was 1988. At the time he was 15 years old. His World Cup debut he made on 7 December 1995. During the 1997 World Championships, Gjelland won the silver medal with the relay. And one year later he took part in his first ever Winter Olympics Games in Nagano, from which he won his first Olympic medal - a silver with the relay. In the other disciplines, Gjelland appeared only in the 10 km sprint where placed 13th. After the Games, the same year he won a gold medal again with the relay in Pokljuka's World Championships. A gap of almost 2 years between such victory, Gjelland added to his collection another medal - the silver in the relay event at the World Championships in 2000 in Holmenkollen. He finished 28th in the sprint, 22nd in the pursuit and 21st in the mass start. The next year he won a bronze in the relay at the World Championships in Pokljuka. His best personal result from World Championships during his entire career was 6th place in the Individual in 2003 in Khanty-Mansyisk. During the World Championships in Oberhof in 2004, Gjelland won a silver medal once more with the efforts of the Norwegian relay team. Finally on 17 December 2004 to the amazement of all, Egil Gjelland won his first individual and only career victory. He won the 12.5 km pursuit in Östersund. After that during the World Championships in Hochfilzen, Gjelland won a gold medal in the relay. He finished 17th in the Individual, 12th in the sprint, 22nd in the pursuit and 28th in the mass start. In conclusion Egil Gjelland's record shows 2 Olympic medals, 6 medals from World Championships, 7 individual of a total of 47 podiums and he finished 14 times in the Top 5 during his career. His best overall finish is 7th in 2000-2001. He announced his retirement before the 2006 Olympics in Turin. Since then he has been a coach of the Norwegian team. And since 2014-2015 season Gjelland was appointed the head coach of the men's National team. Egil Gjelland is married to Ann-Elen Skjelbreid since 2002. She is the sister of Liv Grete Skjelbreid. Gjelland and his wife have one child, a daughter named Kristi who was born in 2004. The couple lives in Fusa, western Norway on Ann-Elen Skjelbreid's farm.