Sergei Tarasov (biathlete)


Sergei Petrovich Tarasov is a former Russian biathlete. In the 1990s, he was one of the dominating biathletes, winning four Olympic medals and seven World Championship medals over the course of his career.

Albertville incident

During the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, Tarasov became acutely ill and had to be taken to the hospital. Rumours about the cause of his grave medical condition soon started floating around the Olympic village, and was also reported in the press, but the Russian team leaders said he'd suffered kidney failure from eating poisonous mushrooms. Many years later, in 2015, Tarasov gave an interview where he confirmed what many had thought in 1992, his kidney failure was caused by a botched blood transfusion. He'd either gotten someone else's blood, or the blood had not been properly refrigerated during storage. The blood transfusion at the Olympics was done by the team to illegally enhance his performance in the upcoming competitions, but nearly cost him his life.

Biathlon results

All results are sourced from the International Biathlon Union.

Olympic Games

4 medals
EventIndividualSprintRelay
1994 LillehammerGoldBronzeSilver
1998 Nagano15th22ndBronze

World Championships

9 medals
EventIndividualSprintPursuitTeamRelay
1991 Lahti10th10thBronzeSilver
1993 BorovetsSilverBronze—Silver
1994 CanmoreSilver
1996 RuhpoldingGold9th—Gold
1997 Brezno-Osrblie30th5thSilver15th8th

Individual victories

4 victories
SeasonDateLocationDisciplineLevel
1990–91
1 victory
19 January 1991 Ruhpolding10 km sprintBiathlon World Cup
1993–94
2 victories
9 December 1993 Bad Gastein20 km individualBiathlon World Cup
1993–94
2 victories
20 February 1994 Lillehammer20 km individualWinter Olympic Games
1995–96
1 victory
4 February 1996 Ruhpolding20 km individualBiathlon World Championships