{"id":468817,"date":"2026-02-11T21:21:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T21:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/468817\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T21:21:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T21:21:11","slug":"biathlete-who-stole-from-team-mate-wins-second-olympic-gold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/468817\/","title":{"rendered":"Biathlete who stole from team-mate wins second Olympic gold"},"content":{"rendered":"

Handing a gun to a thief might not seem like the wisest move but here at the Winter Olympics it equates to the ultimate sporting triumph.<\/p>\n

Less than four months after receiving a three-month suspended prison sentence in a French court for stealing two credit cards from a team-mate and a member of staff and embarking on a \u00a31,700 online shopping spree, Julia Simon bagged a second Olympic gold medal in the biathlon. <\/p>\n

Three days on from winning the mixed relay, the 29-year-old from Albertville triumphed in the 15km individual event with a dominant display, finishing 53 seconds ahead of her compatriot Lou Jeanmonnot, and more than 8\u00bd minutes clear of her victim, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, in 80th place. <\/p>\n

\"Biathlete<\/p>\n

Simon made up for a single miss on the shooting range with a powerful skiing performance on the track<\/p>\n

MATTHEW CHILDS\/REUTERS<\/p>\n

Braisaz-Bouchet, who is also 29 and from Albertville, no doubt hopes that, having proved such a straight shooter at the Antholz-Anterselva Biathlon Arena, Simon now stays on the straight and narrow. <\/p>\n

\u201cNow, I\u2019d like to be left alone, honestly, because I read some things last night that weren\u2019t pleasant,\u201d Simon told Eurosport. \u201cI proved I belong here today, and I had even proved myself before. I don\u2019t have anything left to prove to anyone, and now I\u2019d like to be left alone to do my biathlon. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe past is behind us within the team. We\u2019ve talked things through. Now, we\u2019re here to win medals, to do biathlon. Today, we showed that again. So please, stop, whether it\u2019s the media or the public. It would be really appreciated by everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ten-times world champion also received a six-month ban from her sport in November, with five of those months suspended, allowing her to compete in the Games. <\/p>\n

\"French<\/p>\n

Simon told a hearing that she could not remember stealing the bank cards and using them to shop online<\/p>\n

JEAN-PHILIPPE KSIAZEK\/AFP<\/p>\n

On October 24 last year, Simon was found guilty of theft and credit card fraud, having repeatedly used bank cards belonging to Braisaz-Bouchet and a French biathlon team staff member to make online purchases totalling more than \u20ac2,000 (about \u00a31,700).<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t explain it,\u201d Simon said at the hearing in Albertville. \u201cI don\u2019t remember doing it. I can\u2019t make sense of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

After admitting to the thefts and apologising to her victims, the court also ordered Simon to pay a \u20ac15,000 fine.<\/p>\n

Her federation had suggested after the case that its first priority was to \u201ctake all necessary measures to protect the interests of the athletes, the coaching staff and the team environment\u201d. <\/p>\n

\"France's<\/p>\n

Simon\u2019s victim, Braisaz-Bouchet, finished down in 80th place, more than eight minutes behind the winner<\/p>\n

ODD ANDERSEN\/AFP<\/p>\n

But on November 6 she was issued with a sanction that enabled her to make a swift return to the sport in pursuit of Olympic glory. She was also hit with a further fine of \u20ac30,000 by her federation\u2019s national disciplinary committee. <\/p>\n

As well as her ten world titles, including four last year in Switzerland, Simon won mixed relay silver at the Beijing Games four years ago.<\/p>\n

These victories, however, should mean she can command the kind of sponsorship revenue that recoups the cost of those fines. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Handing a gun to a thief might not seem like the wisest move but here at the Winter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":468818,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82],"class_list":["post-468817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}