Liv Grete Skjelbreid

The year after however she finished 21st.

She ended in 21st place in the individual, 64 points down on Svetlana Ishmouratova.

She ended up in 22nd place, 532 points behind Sandrine Bailly.

She was suffering from a Virus closely related to mononucleosis (glandular fever).

The Virus took away about 15–20 percent of her energy according to Lars Kolsrud, doctor for Norway's biathlon squads.

Liv Grete Skjelbreid (born 7 July 1974) from Hålandsdal, Fusa, near the city of Bergen in western Norway, is a former professional biathlete.

Her first season was in 1995/96, she finished 30th.

In her next season, 1998/99, she shot up the table and came 5th in the end.

As with the vast majority of biathletes, her prone shoot was her best, averaging mid 80% shooting, whilst her standing shoot gradually got better, from 65% in 1999/00 to 74% in the 2005/06 season.

Skjelbreid achieved 46 podium finishes, 22 in first place, 15 in second, and 9 in third place.

In 2000/01 Skjelbreid finished the season in 2nd place, 217 points behind Magdalena Forsberg.

She was 2nd in the sprint, pursuit and mass start, and came 3rd in the individual.

Norway won the relay.

She also came second the year after, again behind Forsberg, this time by 149 points.

She was 2nd in the individual, sprint and pursuit, and 9th in the mass start.

Norway came 2nd in the relay.

Skjelbreid missed the 2002/03 season because of her pregnancy.

However, the year after she captured the crystal globe of the World Cup.

It turned out that Skjelbreid did enjoy the school, and was in the same year as Ole Einar Bjørndalen, and was taught by Odd Lirhus, who would become her coach between 2003 and 2006.

Skjelbreid won the IBU overall World Cup once, in the 2003–04 season, it was also the first for Norway since Anne Elvebakk won the event in 1988.

She won the overall title by 95 points over Olga Pyleva, and took three of the four individual disciplines, the sprint, pursuit and mass start.

She came fourth in the individual.

Norway also won the relay.

Skjelbreid was coached by Rolf Sæterdal until 2003, when he died suddenly.

Although, 2004/05 was a poor year, Skjelbreid had to retire from the season due to illness, missing the World Championships in the process.

Skjelbreid finished the 2005/06 season in 12th place, 511 points behind the overall winner Kati Wilhelm.

On 20 March 2006, Liv Grete announced her retirement, effective at the end of the season which ended on 26 March at the Holmenkollen.

She said that she was retiring because of her young daughter, Emma, her family and because she did not have the motivation to continue.

As a child Skjelbreid spent a lot of her time with her older sisters, and consequently took part in the sports her sisters did.

She played football, kayaked in the lake next to the family home, cross-country skied, and she used to run up to the family cottage up in the mountains, touch the wall and run back down.

Skjelbreid excelled in football and biathlon, and first started competing in biathlon when she was nine.

She borrowed her father's rifle for her first race.

He also built a small shooting range on the family’s farm so his young daughters could practice.

However, as she was finishing high school, she was undecided as to whether continue with biathlon or to become a hairdresser.

She, then, received an offer from a new sports school, which developed young talent, based in Geilo, to train and study there, still she was undecided, but her friends and family succeeded in persuading her to attend the school, and that after the first year if she did not like it, she could then leave.

She was 12th in the sprint, 190 behind Wilhelm.

Her best standing was in the pursuit, where she finished the season in 9th place, 177 points behind Wilhelm, and she finished 13th in the mass start, with 90 points less than Martina Glagow.

Norway were 4th in the relay.

Skjelbreid was a steady shooter over the years.

Her overall percentage was in the high 70% – low 80%.