Background
Fischer, who stands at 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) and weighs 85 kg (190 lb), was born in Schmalkalden, Thuringia (former East Germany). His apparent talents for athletics was discovered early and already in third grade he was training three times a week in the BSG Werkzeugkombinat sports club. In the fifth grade, he became district champion of his age class.
In September 1983, the boarding school Kinder- und Jugendsportschule (KJS) accepted him on a biathlon youth scholarship. After his exam in 1989, he joined the army studying to become a sports teacher. The German reunification and the fall of the Berlin wall and subsequent unification of the East and West German armies, forced him to leave the military in 1990.
He instead started training for international sport events, but in 1989, when Fischer was eighteen, he had problems with both his kneecaps after a growth spurt as a youth: "I grew too fast and didn't stretch well." As a result he sat out the whole of the 1989 season and thought he might have to retire from the sport at his young age. However, in the 1990 season when he came back he found that he had become more powerful than before his injury, and in December 1990, he celebrated his first European cup victory in sprint in Hochfilzen. One week later he participated in his first world cup relay. He was soon rewarded B–status and because of success in the German Championship in 1992 he qualified for the world cup in Pokljuka in December 1992.
In 1993, he won a World Championship gold medal in the 10 km Team in Borovets, Bulgaria, and a world cup race, in sprint, in Kontiolahti, Finland. In 1994, he won the Olympic bronze medal in the 20 km individual.
Fischer was an integral part of the German biathlon team until his retirement.
Fischer has eight biathlon victories at the Holmenkollen ski festival, three in individual (1995, 1999, 2004), two in sprint (1995, 1999), two in pursuit (2002, 2004), and one in mass start (2001).
Read more about this topic: Sven Fischer
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