The sport dates back to 1767, with a competition between Swedish and Norwegian border patrol units. The sport was a demonstration event in the first modern Winter Olympic Games in 1924, and became a regular Olympic event in the 1960 games.
The [International Biathlon Union]? (IBU) is a recognized international standards body for the sport. The IBU currently recognizes six separate biathlon events: Individual Competition, Sprint Competition, Relay Competition, Team Competition, Pursuit Competition, and Mass Start Competition.
The guns used in the competition are .22LR caliber bolt-action rifles with non-optical sights. The guns are fired at various stages of the game at metallic targets. The skis used are cross-country skate skis, which are shorter than the traditional Nordic style. Competitors have to take great care to control the effort they put in to the skiing part of the sport, making sure that they are going fast enough to be competitive, but not so fast that they arrive at the shooting stages too tired to shoot accurately.
The name Biathlon is sometimes used to describe any sporting event made up of two disciplines, most noteably any two of the three events from the Triathlon?.
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