Martina Beck

Martina "Molly" Beck (born Martina Glagow; 21 September 1979 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, West Germany) is a retired German biathlete. She now lives in Mittenwald in Bavaria. She was most successful in the 2002–03 season, when she was the first German to win the women's overall Biathlon World Cup. She is also a three-times world champion and three-times Olympic silver medalist.

Martina Beck

Martina Beck in Antholz (2006)
Medal record
Women's biathlon
Representing  Germany
Olympic Games
2006 Turin 15 km individual
2006 Turin 10 km pursuit
2006 Turin 4 × 6 km relay
2010 Vancouver 4 × 6 km relay
World Championships
2003 Khanty-Mansiysk 10 km pursuit
2007 Antholz-Anterselva 4 × 6 km relay
2008 Östersund 4 × 6 km relay
2001 Pokljuka 12.5 km mass start
2004 Oberhof 10 km pursuit
2007 Antholz-Anterselva 12.5 km mass start
2008 Östersund 15 km individual
2009 Pyeongchang 4 × 6 km relay
2003 Khanty-Mansiysk 4 × 6 km relay
2004 Oberhof 7.5 km sprint
2004 Oberhof 4 × 6 km relay
2007 Antholz-Anterselva 15 km individual

She married the Austrian biathlete Günther Beck on 24 July 2008 and is now known as Martina Beck. She has one daughter named Hilde (born 1 April 2011).[1]

Career

Beck's talent was discovered in fourth grade, when she beat out male competition up to three years older than herself in a cross-country skiing event. Her father, Martin Glagow, is a former army officer and ski technician: he waxed Martina's skis until the end of the 2004-05 season, and was also wax technician for the British biathlon team from 2000 until his retirement in 2011.[2][3] Although Beck stands only 1.58 m (5 ft 2 in) tall, she was a strong skier, but was renowned for her shooting ability: she was regularly among the female athletes with the highest accuracy rate, leading the shooting statistics in the 2003–04 season with a rate of 89 percent.[4] Her father attributed her shooting ability to family inheritance: he had won multiple divisional shooting championships, and he noted that his father was also a good marksman.[2]

She became a member of the German World Cup team in 2000, when she impressed by winning an event in her first year and even finished third in the mass start World Cup standings. Later, she became the first German biathlete to win the women's Biathlon World Cup in the 2002–03 season, alongside the pursuit World Cup; in 2005–06, she finished third in the overall standings and won the mass start standings. In 2007–08, she was the best biathlete in the individual discipline. As of 17 March 2008, she has won a total of 12 individual world cup events.

During the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Beck won three silver medals: one in the sprint competition, one in the pursuit, and one in the relay. At world championships, she has won a total of eleven medals: she was World Champion thrice, in 2003 in the pursuit (together with Sandrine Bailly) and in 2007 and 2008 in the relay.

Beck retired from the sport after the 2009–10 season.[5]

Achievements
  • Winter Olympics:
    • 2006: 3 × Silver (Individual, Pursuit, Relay)
    • 2010: 1 × Bronze (Relay)
  • Biathlon World Championships:
    • 2001: 1 × silver (mass start)
    • 2003: 1 × gold (pursuit), 1 × bronze (relay)
    • 2004: 1 × silver (pursuit), 2 × bronze (sprint, relay)
    • 2007: 1 × gold (relay), 1 × silver (mass start), 1 × bronze (individual)
    • 2008: 1 × gold (relay), 1 × silver (individual)
  • Biathlon World Cup overall:
    • 1 × overall World Cup winner (2002/03), 1 × World Cup pursuit winner (2002/03), 1 × World Cup individual winner (2007/08)
  • Biathlon World Cup victories:
    • 14 (as of: 7 December 2008)
  • Holmenkollen ski festival victories
    • Three (as of 2006) - 2003 (pursuit), 2004 (individual), and 2006 (sprint)

References
  1. "Martina Glagow hat geheiratet" (in German). Biathlon-online.de. 2008-07-26. Archived from the original on August 8, 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-06.
  2. Kokesh, Jerry (16 December 2008). "British Wax Tech Martin Glagow" (Press release). International Biathlon Union. Archived from the original on 28 March 2016. Retrieved 2015-12-28.
  3. "News: Season 2010 - 11". British Biathlon Union. Archived from the original on 19 February 2014. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
  4. "Biathlon Statistics Database". International Biathlon Union. Archived from the original on 2008-03-06. Retrieved 2008-03-17.
  5. Kokesh, Jerry (21 November 2010). "New-Look German Team Aiming for the Top". Biathlonworld. International Biathlon Union. Archived from the original on 26 December 2014. Retrieved 25 December 2014.

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