Sandrine Bailly is a famous French biathlete. Olympic medalist, world champion, repeated winner of the World Cup.
First successes
Sandrine Bailly was born in France in 1979. I came to sport at the age of 15. She began performing at a serious level in 2000, when she was 21 years old. At such an early age for the biathlete, she already got into the national team at the World Cup stage in the Finnish city of Lahti. In the individual race became 49. This result allowed the young Frenchwoman to qualify for the pursuit. In the second start, she managed to slightly improve her result, reaching the finish line of the 42nd. Sandrin Bayi did not receive points in the World Cup standings in her first season.
But the next season brought her first victory. Already at the second stage of the World Cup in Slovenian Pokljuka, she had no equal in the individual race. To this success was added a silver medal in the relay. True, in the remaining stages it was not possible to get on the podium anymore. As a result, with 194 points, she took 28th place in the overall standings.
Bronze season
More successful for Sandrine Bayi was the 2003/2004 season. An already experienced biathlete won in her first race - a sprint in Finnish Kontiolahti.
However, most often that season, Bayi remained in the third stage. She got the bronze medal twice in the relay, once in the sprint, mass start and twice more in the pursuit.
In the overall standings of the World Cup, Baia lost to the Russian Olga Medvedtseva, the Norwegian Liv Greta Poire won that year .
World champion
2003 was successful for Bayi at the World Championships in Russian Khanty-Mansiysk. In the first sprint race she came to the finish 7th, having made 2 misses on the rack, lost 40 seconds to the winner, teammate Silvi Bécar in the final protocol.
The next day, March 16, 2003, Bayi went to the start of the pursuit race stage. At the first stage, she made a mistake, but on that day all the participants didn’t get along with the shooting. The favorite of the previous day, Bekar, having missed in the first and second stages, in the third he completely “shot himself”. Three out of five shots went into the milk.
Bayi without a shot firing at the second and third stage, came to the fourth shooting at the head of the peloton together with the German Martina Glagov. The leaders made one mistake, together went to the last lap, but could not identify the winner. They came to the finish together, sharing a gold medal.
World Cup Victory
The most successful in Bayi’s career was the 2004–2005 season. Although the first stage in the Norwegian Beitostelen did not bring a large number of points. The only success is the bronze medal in the relay.
But a week later the first victory was won in Holmenkollen. The pursuit was successful. The day before, Baia was only fourth in the sprint, losing to the Russians Pyleva and Zaitseva and the Slovenian biathlete Tadeya Brankovich. True, the final lag was very small, so the Frenchwoman managed to win the first victory of the season. In the "sports biathlon" section on all sports sites, she received the most flattering reviews and ratings.
This was followed by a victory in the sprint in the Polish Ostersund, another success in the pursuit in the Italian ski resort of Anterselva. And a stunning success at the World Cup in Slovenian Pokljuka. Bailly was unstoppable that week. In all three races (sprint, pursuit and mass start), the French biathlete won. A golden hat-trick lifted her to the top of the overall standings of the World Cup. She didn’t concede this superiority to anyone. True, the final advantage over German Katie Wilhelm, who took second place, turned out to be very small - only 14 points. In all sections of the “sports biathlon”, Bayi was named the best athlete of the year that season.
Turin Olympics
Bayi came to the Olympic Games in Turin as part of the French team already as one of the leaders of the national team. In the first race, having made two misses in the sprint, she finished sixth, losing 11 seconds to the winner Frenchwoman Baurel-Robert.
It was not possible to rehabilitate in the pursuit race, having made one mistake on the second shooting and two more on the fourth line, Bayi worsened her starting position, having reached the finish line only 12th behind 2 minutes 55 seconds from German Katie Wilhelm, who climbed to the 7th places.
In the individual race, Bayi made one mistake in three stages in four, reached the finish line on the 6th, losing to the winner of the Russian woman Svetlana Ishmuratova for more than two and a half minutes.
The mass start did not bring success either. Bayi successfully completed the first round, but then she began to miss at all subsequent stages. As a result, she became the tenth with a lag of 1 minute 45 seconds. Swede won the race Anna Karin Olofsson.
She won the medal at the Olympic Games in the relay. For the French team, she fled at the last stage. Using only two additional cartridges, she brought third place.
She won another Olympic medal at the 2010 Games in Vancouver. Then silver was also obtained in the relay.
In total, Bayi took part in 236 races during her career. 42 times hit the podium. She has 20 victories, 15 second places and 7 bronze medals.
She completed her professional career in 2010.
Personal life
Having completed her career in biathlon, the athlete concentrated on her family. Sandrine Bailly, whose personal life had developed successfully before, now decided to have children.
The first daughter of the famous biathlete was born a year after she officially hung the rifle on a nail. In 2011, Sandrine Bailly had a daughter, whom she named Lily. A significant event took place on October 14th.
Having become a mother, Bayi decided not to part with thoughts of permanent work and continued to work with the famous Eurosport channel, where she worked as a TV commentator.
Soon, she again decided to become the mother of Sandrine Bayi. “Children are the main thing in life,” she said in an interview. In February 2016, her second daughter, Morgan, was born.
Having said goodbye to a biathlon career, Bayi is actively engaged in sports journalism. In particular, she took the post of editor-in-chief of the popular French publication Northern Journal, specializing in winter sports.