When Lyle Nelson talks about the biathlon it's as if it's the greatest snow sport on earth.
"I think the reason it's so enchanting is it combines two polar opposite sports," Nelson said Friday. It involves sprinting on cross-country skis, then stopping to aim a .22-caliber rifle at five tiny targets about 50 meters away.Shooting can be fun, said Nelson.
"In view of yesterday it's a touchy subject," he added, referring to Thursday's shooting at the LDS Family History Library where three people, including the gunman, were killed and three others wounded.
Nelson, a four-time U.S. Olympian, is the biathlon program manager for the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. He's been working on making the biathlon and cross-country venue -- soon to be under construction at Wasatch Mountain State Park's Solider Hollow -- the best-ever Olympic event at the 2002 Winter Games.
But first he wants everyone to know why the biathlon is one of the most exciting Olympic sports. Before newspaper reporters and television cameras at SLOC, he demonstrated the shooting part with a computer-generated target.
"This is what's going on," he said, jumping on a chair, to get his heart racing. Then he stopped to aim a rifle, with a built-in camera, that records the shots electronically on a computer screen.
It's all about complete relaxation and total concentration, Nelson said, a particularly hard task when the heart is pumping up to 180 beats per minute.
Biathletes shoot from two positions, prone and standing. The targets for the prone position are smaller because it's easier to hit the targets when lying down, Nelson said.
Expert marksmen will simply zone out all distractions, he added. For each missed target biathletes must either ski one lap around a 150-meter penalty loop or have time added to their total.
That's why it's so hard to win a medal in the biathlon. No American has done it.
"All it has to be is my day," Nelson said. A biathlete can be the fastest cross-country skier and an expert marksman. Put the two together and it makes for a challenging competition.
Biathlon's origins can be traced back to the Scandinavians, Nelson explained. It was a time when skiing was the primary mode of transportation and food was acquired with a rifle. During political unrest, soldiers skied and shot their enemy.
Nelson, 50, said he was one of the last American biathlon soldiers. A 1971 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, he spent 10 years in the Army, including four years as the sport director at Fort Carson, Colo. He also holds a PH.D. in organizational development.
Besides coaching biathletes, he also serves as the event coordinator for ESPN's series, "Survival of the Fittest." He competed in the 1976, 1980, 1984 and 1988 Olympics. He covered it as a television commentator at the 1992, 1994 and 1998 Olympics.
While biahtlon is one of the most-watched TV spectator sports in Europe, Americans barely give it a second glance.
That seems baffling to Nelson, who was brimming with enthusiasm when he talked biathlon.
What's so fun about it?
"I like the exuberence of speed, this ballet sense of being on skis," Nelson said, lifting his right leg to take a big stride. Then going 20 mph. "That entralls me."
And being an Olympian, said Nelson, "is a moment of glory turned into a lifetime of honor."