Belarusian · Minsk, Belarus · Born 3 August 1986Belarusian biathlete and her country's most decorated Olympian, who became the first woman to win three individual gold medals at a single Winter Olympics.
Darya Domracheva was born on 3 August 1986 in Minsk, and moved with her architect parents to the Siberian town of Nyagan at age four, taking up skiing at six and biathlon at a newly opened local school in 1999, where she was skilled enough to regularly beat the boys she trained with. Her family returned to Minsk in 2003, and she studied tourism management while building her international career, winning her first Olympic medal - bronze in the individual event - at the 2010 Vancouver Games. Domracheva became one of the sport's dominant forces through the early 2010s, winning World Championship gold in the pursuit in 2012 and the mass start in 2013. At the 2014 Sochi Olympics, she delivered a historic performance, winning gold in the pursuit, the 15-kilometer individual, and the 12.5-kilometer mass start - becoming the first woman in biathlon history to win three individual golds at a single Olympics. She was awarded the Hero of Belarus medal, becoming the first woman in her country's history to receive the honor, and went on to win her first overall World Cup title in the 2014-15 season. Domracheva took the 2015-16 season off due to illness and pregnancy, giving birth to a daughter with fellow biathlon legend Ole Einar Bjørndalen, whom she married in 2016. She returned in January 2017 and competed at a fourth Olympics at Pyeongchang 2018, winning silver in the mass start and anchoring Belarus to relay gold - her fourth career Olympic title, a record for women's biathlon. She retired in June 2018, citing the difficulty of balancing elite competition with motherhood, having previously worked for the Belarusian KGB before her athletic career took off, and later became a biathlon coach alongside her husband, including a stint working with Chinese athletes ahead of Beijing 2022.
Becoming the first woman in biathlon history to win three individual gold medals at a single Winter Olympics, at Sochi 2014
How They Played
Powerful, tactically composed distance skier known for exceptional shooting accuracy under pressure across every biathlon format
Lasting Impact
Regarded as Belarus's greatest Winter Olympian and one of the finest biathletes of her generation, whose dominant 2014 Games remains one of the sport's benchmark individual performances
Career Honours
- 4x Olympic Gold Medalist - a record for women's biathlon
- First woman to win 3 individual golds at a single Winter Olympics (2014)
- Belarus's most decorated Olympian
- 2014-15 Overall World Cup Champion
Belarusian Athletes