Campbell Wright represented New Zealand at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
Be it the comfort of company or the additional resources, or a combination of the two, the 23-year-old has excelled in red, white and blue.<\/p>\n
He showed his growth at last year\u2019s IBU World Championships to earn silver medals in the sprint and pursuit races \u2013 the first American athlete to win two medals at a single world championships \u2013 before earning his first World Cup podium with a runner-up place in the men\u2019s 15k mass start race in January.<\/p>\n
This month, Wright will compete in his second Olympics and is in the unusual position of representing as many countries at as many Games.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kind of made peace with those demons my first year on US but it definitely loses a bit of the romantic side of it of, like, the nationality thing, if I\u2019m being 100% honest, which does suck,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like it\u2019s a lot more just about sport than competing for a nation at these Games, which does sting a bit, not going to lie. But it\u2019s just the reality of the situation I\u2019m in and I think there\u2019s a lot greater evils in this world than that.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt definitely feels different but I feel like I still represent a lot of New Zealand. So all the people, I\u2019ll have a bunch of my family over here and a bunch of Kiwis are coming over and I\u2019m pretty stoked to have that and I definitely still feel a lot of support from New Zealand because I very much am still a Kiwi.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wright goes into the Games with a different outlook from that of four years ago, when he was the youngest of the 92 athletes competing in the men\u2019s 20km individual race.<\/p>\n
Campbell Wright claimed two silver medals at last year’s Biathlon World Championships. Photo \/ Franck Fife, AFP<\/p>\n
\u201cI definitely feel like I belong on the start line. Last time I was 19 and kind of felt like a bit of an outsider,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot an outsider, but I didn\u2019t feel like I really deserved to be on the start line because I knew that the sixth Norwegian guy who wasn\u2019t able to start was better than me. So I felt like I was a bit of a freebie there for a small nation, which I know isn\u2019t true and that\u2019s not the way it works, but it is the way I felt a little bit.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy goals this time is just to enjoy myself. I\u2019m fit and I\u2019m ready to rip. So, if I can enjoy myself, I\u2019m going to be a happy dude.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Italy, Wright will be part of an American team looking to win the nation its first Olympic medal in the sport. Of all the events contested at the Winter Games, biathlon is the only one in which the United States has never won a medal.<\/p>\n
Asked where he felt the team\u2019s best chances were to end that drought, Wright said there would be a solid chance in the men\u2019s relay or any of the individual events.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like our odds. I give it a 20% chance of happening, which is pretty f***ing good I reckon.\u201d<\/p>\n