30 Olympic athletes who dominated their events

5. Ole Einar Bjørndalen

When your nickname is “The King of the Biathlon,” you must be doing something right, and chances are it’s probably the biathlon. An ancient Norwegian sport that combines cross-country skiing with rifle shooting, it’s only fitting that the biathlon’s greatest success story also happens to be from Norway himself.

Fellow citizen Bjørn Dæhlie might have just as many gold medals as Ole Einar Bjørndalen, but he doesn’t have as many total medals – Bjørndalen has one more with 13, giving him the sole distinction of being the most medaled athlete in the history of the Winter Olympic Games. Bjørndalen has also won 44 medals at the Biathlon World Championships – double that of his next closest competitor – and has 95 Biathlon World Cup career victories, which is also twice the amount of anyone else. Apologies to his “competition,” but Bjørndalen really just blows everyone else out of the water – or the snow, rather.

Now 42-years-old, Bjørndalen has shown no signs of slowing down. By all accounts he is still in excellent physical shape, and has indicated publicly his desire to compete in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. If all goes according to plan, Bjørndalen might be adding even more hardware to his already-impressive collection before he decides to call it quits one day.

Next: 4. Paavo Nurmi