Wolfgang Perner is a retired Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

n biathlete

Biathlon

Biathlon is a term used to describe any sporting event made up of two disciplines. However, biathlon usually refers specifically to the winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting...

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He has been a part of the Austrian national biathlon team since 1992. He failed to qualify for the 1992 Olympics in Albertville

Albertville

Albertville is a commune in the Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.The town is best known for hosting the 1992 Winter Olympics.-Geography:...

, but his career improved afterwards, firstly with a third place in Holmenkollen

Holmenkollen ski festival

The Holmenkollen Ski Festival is a traditional annual Nordic skiing event in Holmenkollen, Oslo, Norway. The full official name of the event is Holmenkollen FIS World Cup Nordic. It takes place in March and has been arranged every year since 1892, except for 1898 and during World War II...

, and afterwards with his first World Cup

Biathlon World Cup

The Biathlon World Cup has been held since the winter seasons of 1977/78 and 1982/83, for men and women, respectively ....

 in Novosibirsk

Novosibirsk

Novosibirsk is the third-largest city in Russia, after Moscow and Saint Petersburg, and the largest city of Siberia, with a population of 1,473,737 . It is the administrative center of Novosibirsk Oblast as well as of the Siberian Federal District...

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Perner has competed in four Olympic Games, and won his only medal in the sprint at the 2002 Winter Olympics

Biathlon at the 2002 Winter Olympics

The 2002 Winter Olympic Games Biathlon were held at Soldier Hollow.-10 km Sprint:Without any misses with the shooting, Bjørndalen wins his second gold of the Games.-12.5 km Pursuit:...

 in Salt Lake City, where he took bronze, behind Ole Einar Bjørndalen

Ole Einar Bjørndalen

Ole Einar Bjørndalen is a Norwegian professional biathlete. He is often regarded as one of the greatest athletes of all time. In 1992, he won his first career medal at the junior world championships. A year later In 1993, after winning a record three junior world championship titles, Bjørndalen...

 and Sven Fischer

Sven Fischer

Sven Fischer is a former German biathlete. He trained with the WSV Oberhof club, and was coached by Frank Ullrich and Fritz Fischer and Klaus Siebert...

. This was Austria's first Olympic medal in biathlon. At the 2006 Winter Olympics

Biathlon at the 2006 Winter Olympics

Biathlon at the 2006 Winter Olympics consisted of ten biathlon events. They were held at the Cesana-San Sicario arena. The events began on 11 February and ended on 25 February 2006. Approximately 6,500 spectators were expected by the organizing committee...

 in Turin, aged almost 39, he came in fifth place in the sprint.

The IOC has banned Perner for life from competing in the Olympics as the result of a doping

Doping (sport)

The use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport is commonly referred to by the term "doping", particularly by those organizations that regulate competitions. The use of performance enhancing drugs is mostly done to improve athletic performance. This is why many sports ban the use of performance...

scandal at the 2006 Winter Olympics. http://www.tsn.ca/olympics/news_story/?ID=205499&hubname=