Michael Greis

{{About|the German athlete|the American screenwriter|Michael Grais}}

{{Infobox biathlete

| name = Michael Greis

| image = Michael Greis.jpg

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption = Greis at the World Championships in Antholz-Anterselva.

| fullname = Michael Greis

| nickname = Michi

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1976|08|18}}

| birth_place = Füssen, West Germany

| death_date =

| death_place =

| residence =

| occupation =

| height = {{height|m=1.77|precision=0}}

| weight =

| website =

| disciplines = Biathlon

| club = SK Nesselwang

| skis =

| rifle =

| wcdebut = 28 February 2001

| retired = 5 December 2012

| olympicteams = 3 (2002, 2006, 2010)

| olympicmedals = 3

| olympicgolds = 3

| worldsteams = 9 (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012)

| worldsmedals = 12

| worldsgolds = 3

| wcseasons = 13 (2000/01–2012/13)

| wcraces =

| wcraceswithrelays =

| wcwins = 11

| wcrelayswins = 21

| wcpodiums = 34

| wcrelayspodiums = 64

| wcoveralls = 1 (2006–07)

| wctitles = 4:
3 Individual (2004–05, 2005–06, 2008–09);
1 Sprint (2006–07)

| show-medals =

| updated =

| medaltemplates =

{{MedalCountry | {{GER}} }}

{{MedalGold | 2007 Antholz-Anterselva | {{nowrap|15 km mass start }}}}

{{MedalSilver | Biathlon World Championships 2007 | 20 km individual }}

{{MedalBronze | {{Nowrap|2012 Ruhpolding}} | {{Nowrap|4 × 7.5 km relay}}}}

}}

Michael Greis ({{IPA|de|ˈmɪçaːʔeːl ˈɡʁaɪs|-|De-Michael Greis.ogg}}; born 18 August 1976) is a German former biathlete.

Career

Greis first competed at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, finishing 15th and 16th in the 10 km sprint and 12.5 km pursuit events in the biathlon.

Greis won the World Cup in the individual category in 2004/05, and was a member of the winning 4 × 7.5 km relay team in the 2004 Biathlon World Championships, and took silver in the individual 20 km category at the 2005 World Championships.

At the 2006 Winter Olympics, Greis came into the games heading the World Cup standings and took the first Olympic gold of the games with victory in the individual 20 km ahead of the defending Olympic champion Ole Einar Bjørndalen. He was also a member of the German team that won the 4 × 7.5 km relay.

On 25 February 2006 Greis won the men's 15 km event and became the first person to capture three gold medals at the Turin Olympic Games. (Koreans Jin Sun-Yu and Ahn Hyun Soo became the second and third later on the same day with victories in short track speed skating.)

Greis was named German sportsman of the year, along with fellow biathlete Kati Wilhelm, by journalists.{{Cite web |url=http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-biathlon/athletes/michael-greis_ath1018035XP.html |title=Vancouver 2010 - profile |access-date=2010-08-13 |archive-date=2010-04-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100409033903/http://www.vancouver2010.com/olympic-biathlon/athletes/michael-greis_ath1018035XP.html |url-status=dead }}

In the 2006/07 World Cup season, Greis won the Overall and the Sprint competition.

In the 2007/08 World Cup season Greis managed onto the podium on a regular basis, attaining three victories, three 2nd places as well as three 3rds. At the season's World Champs in Östersund Greis did not participate in the sprint and in the pursuit but being anchor both in the men's Relay and the mixed Relay, helped to secure a gold and a bronze for his team.

Prior to the 2008/09 World Cup season Greis had had a serious disagreement with the Germans' head coach Frank Ullrich the reason being Ullrich's authoritative management of the team, which resulted in Greis' departure from Ullrich's jurisdiction to train on his own. This yielded him quite a solid performance throughout the year, with another two World Cup victories and the relay bronze at the Biathlon World Championships 2009 in South Korea.

Greis participated in the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada which turned to be a disappointing performance for his fans as he finished in the mediocre 10th place twice, in the Individual and the Mass Start, along with coming 5th in the relay and the pursuit, adding to a streak of unsuccessful Olympic performances by the German biathlon male team when not a single German won any medal in biathlon for the first time in the Olympic history.

After the first round of the 2012–13 World Cup, Greis announced his retirement on 5 December 2012 citing a lack of motivation, making the 20 km in Östersund on 28 November his last competition as he had dropped the sprint and pursuit.{{cite web |url=http://www2.biathlonworld.com/en/press_releases.html/do/detail?presse=1730 |title=Germany's Michael Greis Retires from Biathlon |last=Kokesh |first=Jerry |date=5 December 2012 |website=Biathlonworld |publisher=International Biathlon Union |access-date=3 June 2015 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150603131130/http://www2.biathlonworld.com/en/press_releases.html/do/detail?presse=1730 |archivedate=3 June 2015 }} After retiring, Greis studied International Management at Ansbach University of Applied Sciences.{{cite web |url=http://www.spiegel.de/sport/wintersport/michael-greis-wird-biathlon-cheftrainer-der-usa-a-1205575.html|title=Greis wird Cheftrainer der US-Biathleten |last=Kinast |first=Florian |date=30 April 2018 |website=spiegel.de|language=German |trans-title=Greis will be head coach of US biathletes |access-date=20 January 2019}} He also worked as a pundit for Eurosport.{{cite web |url=https://www.ispo.com/en/people/michael-greis-german-biathlon-star-us-coach |title=Michael Greis: "I'm As Ambitious As Ever" |last=Becker |first=Thomas|date=12 May 2018|website=Internationale Fachmesse für Sportartikel und Sportmode|access-date=21 January 2019}} Subsequently in 2016 he was appointed as head coach at the national biathlon training centre for east Switzerland at Lenzerheide, where he coached youth biathletes. After two years in this post, in April 2018 he was announced as head coach of the United States men's biathlon team. After one season in this role, in May 2019 he was named as head coach for the Polish women's biathlon team.{{cite web |url=http://archiwum.thenews.pl/1/5/Artykul/420589 |title=German coach for Polish women's biathlon team |author= |date=17 May 2019 |website=thenews.pl |access-date=7 December 2019}}

Biathlon results

All results are sourced from the International Biathlon Union.{{cite web |url=http://services.biathlonresults.com/athletes.aspx?IbuId=BTGER11808197601 |title=Michael Greis |author= |website=IBU Datacenter |publisher=International Biathlon Union |access-date=3 June 2015}}

=Olympic Games=

3 medals (3 gold)

class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

!Event

!style="width:70px;"|Individual

!style="width:70px;"|Sprint

!style="width:70px;"|Pursuit

!style="width:70px;"|{{nowrap|Mass start}}

!style="width:70px;"|Relay

align=left |{{flagicon|United States}} 2002 Salt Lake City

| —

| 15th

| 16th

| {{n/a}}

| —

align=left |{{flagicon|Italy}} 2006 Turin

| style="background:gold;"| Gold

| 33rd

| 8th

| style="background:gold;"| Gold

align=left |{{flagicon|Canada}} 2010 Vancouver

| 10th

| 21st

| 5th

| 10th

| 5th

:*Mass start was added as an event in 2006.

=World Championships=

12 medals (3 gold, 3 silver, 6 bronze)

class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

!Event

!style="width:70px;"|Individual

!style="width:70px;"|Sprint

!style="width:70px;"|Pursuit

!style="width:70px;"|{{nowrap|Mass start}}

!style="width:70px;"|Relay

!style="width:70px;"|{{nowrap|Mixed relay}}

align=left |{{flagicon|NOR}} 2002 Oslo Holmenkollen

| {{n/a}}

| 19th

| {{n/a}}

align=left |{{flagicon|RUS}} 2003 Khanty-Mansiysk

| —

| 29th

| DNS

| —

| {{n/a}}

align=left |{{flagicon|GER}} 2004 Oberhof

| —

| 5th

| 9th

| 21st

| style="background:gold;"| Gold

| {{n/a}}

align=left |{{flagicon|AUT}} 2005 Hochfilzen

| style="background:silver;"| Silver

| 6th

| 5th

| 10th

| 6th

| style="background:#cfaa88;"| Bronze

align=left |{{flagicon|ITA}} 2007 Antholz-Anterselva

| style="background:silver;"| Silver

| 19th

| 12th

| style="background:gold;"| Gold

| style="background:#cfaa88;"| Bronze

| 5th

align=left |{{flagicon|SWE}} 2008 Östersund

| 36th

| —

| 13th

| style="background:#cfaa88;"| Bronze

| style="background:gold;"| Gold

align=left |{{flagicon|KOR}} 2009 Pyeongchang

| 19th

| 7th

| 13th

| DNF

| style="background:#cfaa88;"| Bronze

align=left |{{flagicon|RUS}} 2011 Khanty-Mansiysk

| 7th

| 9th

| 11th

| 20th

| 7th

| style="background:silver;"| Silver

align=left |{{flagicon|GER}} 2012 Ruhpolding

| 11th

| 26th

| 23rd

| 22nd

| style="background:#cfaa88;"| Bronze

| —

:*During Olympic seasons competitions are only held for those events not included in the Olympic program.

:**The mixed relay was added as an event in 2005.

=Individual victories=

11 victories (3 In, 4 Sp, 2 Pu, 2 MS)

Season ! Date ! Location ! Discipline ! Level
class="wikitable"
rowspan="1" style="text-align:center;"\| 2004–05 1 victory (1 In)	9 February 2005	{{flagicon\|ITA}} Turin	20 km individual	Biathlon World Cup
rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;"\| 2005–06 2 victories (1 In, 1 MS)	11 February 2006	{{flagicon\|ITA}} Turin	20 km individual	Winter Olympic Games
25 February 2006	{{flagicon\|ITA}} Turin	15 km mass start	Winter Olympic Games
rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;"\| 2006–07 2 victories (1 Sp, 1 MS)	14 December 2006	{{flagicon\|AUT}} Hochfilzen	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
11 February 2007	{{flagicon\|ITA}} Antholz-Anterselva	15 km mass start	Biathlon World Championships
rowspan="4" style="text-align:center;"\| 2007–08 4 victories (2 Sp, 2 Pu)	12 January 2008	{{flagicon\|GER}} Ruhpolding	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
13 January 2008	{{flagicon\|GER}} Ruhpolding	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Cup
18 January 2008	{{flagicon\|ITA}} Antholz-Anterselva	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
29 February 2008	{{flagicon\|KOR}} Pyeongchang	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Cup
rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;"\| 2008–09 2 victories (1 In, 1 Sp)	3 December 2008	{{flagicon\|SWE}} Östersund	20 km individual	Biathlon World Cup
19 March 2009	{{flagicon\|NOR}} Trondheim	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup