St. Paul man makes Olympic biathlon team

By Jay Weiner, Star Tribune

Last update: January 3, 2006 - 4:06 PM

Brian Olsen, who moved from Minnesota to train for biathlon in Norway six years ago, was named to the U.S. Olympic biathlon team Tuesday, grabbing the fifth and final spot on the team.

Carolyn Treacy of Duluth made the women's Olympic biathlon team.

Olsen, 22, attended Bloomington Jefferson High School for two years, but then, with an Olympic dream, attended the famed ski school in Geilo, Norway, training home of biathlon great Ole Einar Bjøerndalen, four-time and two-time silver medalist.

Olsen, who beat out Minneapolis' Jacob Beste for the last Olympic spot, said when he lived in Norway he learned to "overcome the idea that Americans can't be good endurance athletes. Just because we're born in Minnesota or the United States doesn't mean we don't have the capacity to win an Olympic medal."

He'll be a longshot for that in Turin next month, but he's clearly ahead of his personal schedule: among his stated goals on his own Web site is winning an Olympic medal . . . in 2014.

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