Biathlon at the 1972 Winter Olympics the competing nations; in parentheses are the number of national competitors. Italy made its Olympic biathlon debut. Biathlon at the 1972 Winter Olympics Biathlon at the 1972 Winter Olympics consisted of two biathlon events, held at Makomanai Biathlon Site. The events began on 9 February and ended on 11 February 1972. Five nations won medals in biathlon, the Soviet Union and Norway leading the medal table with one gold medal each, while East Germany were the only country to win more than one medal. Hansjörg Knauthe, who was part of both East German medals, was the only athlete to win
Venues of the 1972 Winter Olympics This campaign proved fruitful when Sapporo was awarded the 1972 Winter Games at the April 1966 IOC meeting in Rome. Venue construction began in 1968 and all but the Tsukisamu Indoor rink was completed in time for the test events at Sapporo in February 1971. Tsukisamu was not completed until late 1971 or early 1972 due to not knowing how many teams would compete at the 1972 Olympic ice hockey tournament. During the men's 5000 m speed skating event, Ard Schenk of the Netherlands won the event despite a snowstorm. It was the first of Schenk's three gold medals at