Men’s competitions in biathlon were included in the Olympic Games program since 1960, but women’s competitions were included only since 1992.
Targets in Biathlon were initially made of paper that always lead to endless disputes. It was suggested to hang inflated tire tube behind a metal shield. In 1974, Soviet engineers created targets made of glass which when hit by the rounds did not crumble but flowed like liquid glass. But such a fragility turned out to be very impractical during the transportation.
Interestingly, the loss of a magazine or a sight can not lead to athlete disqualification. The athlete must cross the finish line with a barrel and a trigger mechanism.
In Biathlon, weapons and ammunition are not considered separately, but as one unit. Biathlon rifle weighs not more than 3.5 kg and has cartridges with five rounds each. The speed of the round reaches up to 380 meters per second.
In the early stages of Biathlon, a man silhouette was used as a target, in the center of which was drawn a circle with a diameter of 250 mm (when shooting prone) and 350 mm (when shooting standing). If an athlete missed the circle, a penalty minute was added to his overall race time, and if an athlete missed the silhouette, two penalty minutes were added to his overall race time. Quite often the final results of shooting were assessed only after the finish - it was very difficult to count without modern equipment.