Biathlon

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It's a cliché for athletes to say, as they train to win, they go out "loaded for bear."

In some cases, however, it reflects a dangerous reality. Zina Kocher, one of Canada's top hopes in Olympic biathlon, has trained in the summer packing bear spray with her, in case of grizzly encounters in the Alberta foothills.

"Yes, we do all ski with bear spray and pray that that bear is more interested in the berry bushes than a skinny skier," Kocher, of Red Deer, Alta., says in a matter-of-fact way as she describes the 11-month training ordeals getting ready for the 2010 Winter Olympics in her blog. There's weight training in May, then cardio work starting in June. And if that's not enough to stimulate the heart, there's wildlife.

Other athletes worry about falls and twisted ankles, but outside the Canmore Nordic Centre in western Alberta, "We have also been up to Highwood Pass a lot for long roller ski sessions. Highwood Pass is a long gradual climb in Kananaskis where we often spot grizzly bears during the month of June ... an exciting experience when you are moving so slowly uphill on [roller] skis."

Kocher's trademark pink-painted rifle wouldn't be much use in a face-to-face meeting with a bear. The rifle, with almost no recoil, is meant only for target-shooting and the light ammunition would likely bounce off thick fur.

Kocher and national teammates Megan Imrie of Falcon Lake, Man., and Rosanna Crawford of Canmore, Alta., spent several days in Southern Ontario this month, talking with school groups and being the star attractions at a fund-raising dinner on a trip sponsored by The Gun Centre in Kitchener.

In an energetic presentation at the Clemens Mill Public School in Cambridge, Ont., the trio led more than 100 fascinated youngsters in a simulated biathlon event, let them shoot with a laser at the kinds of targets biathletes must knock down between strenuous sessions of ski racing, and told them how athletes from small towns can find and pursue an Olympic dream.

"Don't let it go," Kocher told the kids, who passed on food and recess breaks to stay and line up for autographs from the three biathletes.

Biathlon doesn't have the cachet of hockey in Canada. It is a winter sport with a military background. As a competition, the combined skills of skiing and shooting date to Norway in 1776. The first Winter Olympics in Chamonix, France, included a military ski patrol race as a demonstration sport, but the sport didn't officially become an Olympic event until 1960 for men and 1992 for women. As short a history as women's biathlon has had, a Canadian, Myriam Bédard, is legendary.

Bédard, who learned to shoot at 15 with Cadets Canada, won a biathlon World Cup event in 1991. She was on Canada's 1992 Olympics squad, in Albertville, France, and won a bronze medal in the 15-kilometre event. In 1993, she won the 7.5-kilometre event at the world championship and was second in the 15-kilometre race. At the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, she was the star of the team, winning golds at both distances. She was then awarded the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada's top athlete in 1994.

"It means a ton," Kocher, 26, said in an interview as she reflected on how a Canadian could work her way to the top in a little-known and little-understood sport.

"Knowing that we had an athlete from Canada on that podium. We're such a small sport [in Canada] compared to Germany, Norway and Russia. ... So, to have someone from here be on that podium is amazing. You can come from nothing and you can do it, you just have to work really hard and get the right resources. Same with [cross-country Olympic medalists] Beckie Scott and Sara Renner. ... They've made amazing accomplishments and you feel the power."

In Bédard's case, training to be the best involved going overseas, to Italy mainly, because experienced coaches were in Europe and it was close to world-class competition. But the staging of two Winter Games in Canada has meant that Kocher has been able to learn most of her craft at home, where she's had some time to get acquainted with the Olympic tracks at the Callaghan Valley in British Columbia.

"We have a very good support staff, all Canadian, except one wax technician ... but we have Canadian coaches and Canadian wax techs and a sport psychologist. We have all the resources we need and an amazing training facility at the Canmore Nordic Centre," she said. "We've had good camps, such as going to Austria for ski camps, but we can do about everything we need to do out of Canmore and, with [funding program] Own the Podium, we've had a lot of good technical development [evaluating the fastest skis for different snow textures] out of the University of Calgary."

The Canadian biathletes will leave Canada about Nov. 20 to three World Cup meets in December and two or three in January.

"I may stay in Europe during Christmas," Kocher said.

When they come back, the Canadians won't actually be back on the Olympic course until five days before the opening ceremonies, she said, but it should still feel like home.

"We had national championships there in 2008 in Whistler and a World Cup there in 2009 season, and we spent May out there in 2008 and May out there last season on the course and we had a camp out there this year," Kocher said.

Some of the biathlete needs have been paid via Sports Canada's athlete assistance plan, some through Own the Podium and some by Biathlon Canada and its sponsors. But more than $100,000 has come from selling out more than 5,000 copies of a special calendar known as Bold Beautiful Biathlon. On its pages are featured Canada's top female biathletes - Kocher, Imrie, Crawford, Sandra Keith of Ottawa and Megan Tandy of Prince George, B.C. - tastefully posed with their rifles and nothing else.

At first, Kocher said, there may have been a little skepticism about a making a nude calendar, but it was ultimately seen as a way to promote female athletes as healthy people with strong, beautiful bodies. It's not the first time it has been done. Scott, Renner and other cross-country skiers revived the Canadian program in that sport after the 1998 Nagano Olympics with a similar daring calendar.

"No, there's no men's calendar," Kocher said. "This calendar was our idea. Five of us came together and said we need to do something, so it was our initiative and we went out and did it."

If they can deal with a bear, they can deal with being bare.