September 2000 issue, page 22.
For those who don't know, biathlon is cross-country skiing combined with .22 target shooting marksmanship. Essentially the skills that allowed the Finns to fight the Soviets to a draw in the Winter War of 1939-40.
The picture is of a ski-clad Carolyn Treacy firing her rifle, with an engineer next to her reviewing the results with a high tech computer/camera-based system looking at aim, trigger pressure, recoil motion, etc. Really cool picture. Unfortunately, it's not in the online version of National Geographic, or I'd post the URL.
I also sent this letter to the editor of National Geographic:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>re: The Unbeatable Body article, September 2000
Thanks for a great article, and a special thanks for an unbiased portrayal on pp22-23 of a shooting sport, biathlon. In these days of rampant "political correctness," firearms are portrayed by most media as something owned only by the anti-social, and shooting sports rarely get their due in multi-sports coverage. Your portrayal helps show what upstanding, freedom-loving, firearms-owning Americans have long recognized: The mind and body control needed for accurate target shooting is truly Olympian.
[/quote]
[This message has been edited by JimR (edited September 01, 2000).]
For those who don't know, biathlon is cross-country skiing combined with .22 target shooting marksmanship. Essentially the skills that allowed the Finns to fight the Soviets to a draw in the Winter War of 1939-40.
The picture is of a ski-clad Carolyn Treacy firing her rifle, with an engineer next to her reviewing the results with a high tech computer/camera-based system looking at aim, trigger pressure, recoil motion, etc. Really cool picture. Unfortunately, it's not in the online version of National Geographic, or I'd post the URL.
I also sent this letter to the editor of National Geographic:
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>re: The Unbeatable Body article, September 2000
Thanks for a great article, and a special thanks for an unbiased portrayal on pp22-23 of a shooting sport, biathlon. In these days of rampant "political correctness," firearms are portrayed by most media as something owned only by the anti-social, and shooting sports rarely get their due in multi-sports coverage. Your portrayal helps show what upstanding, freedom-loving, firearms-owning Americans have long recognized: The mind and body control needed for accurate target shooting is truly Olympian.
[/quote]
[This message has been edited by JimR (edited September 01, 2000).]