Mayukh Ghosh
He is the greatest Olympian you have never heard of.
His name is Ole Einar Bjørndalen.
He has won 13 medals in Winter Olympics and is the most successful Winter Olympian ever.
He was born near the industrial river city of Drammen. He was the fourth of five children in the house. His father was a small farmer. His childhood was not the best one and he had to fight poverty day in and day out.
He took up Biathlon at age 10 and within a few years he became a prodigy.
He was soon nicknamed' Cannibal' because of his endless desire to win.
More than twenty years later, this man, aged 40, competed in Sochi ,2014 and won a couple of Gold medals.
David Wallechinsky once described Biathlon as a sport which requires one to 'run a 100-yard sprint, then thread a needle'. Bjørndalen single-handedly changed the sport. He turned it into a professional sport, in the late ‘90s.
He is a boring man. He never touched alcohol. He never shows his frustrations. He just competes and wins.
In 2014, none of the US journalists present in Sochi were aware of this man and his achievements. A survey showed that 98% of the US population never ever heard this name.
This man works as a carpenter. No one( almost) recognises him outside Norway, Russia and Germany.
He is, arguably, the greatest Olympian ever.
Ole Einar Bjørndalen was born Jan 26, 1974.