It was last fall that former biathlete and Olympic gold medalist Björn Ferry, now an SVT expert, showed off his chin with a suggestions: Transition to electronic shooting in sport.
The background is as follows SVT extension that environmentally hazardous lead bullets may have to be phased out, and so far there is no alternative ammunition.
The EU wants to introduce stricter requirements for handling lead in shooting facilities, which could hit clubs’ finances hard.
In 20 years it could be completely different and no one will miss how it was.
How realistic is it to stop shooting lead bullets?
– It’s super realistic. It’s just a matter of pulling it off, Ferry tells DN, but admits the road is long:
– It seems clear to me where we will end up, it can be done today but it won’t be done. In 20 years it could be completely different and no one will miss how it was.
Photo: Johanna Wallén/Bildbyrån
An unleaded shootout it may be the future, also believes Olympic and World Cup medalist Martin Ponsiluoma. But:
– Right now it seems a long way off that it will work very well.
– Shooting lasers is not the same thing as shooting for real. You get no recoil in the weapon and bang is a bit of a thing too, plus the audience sees and hears you when you shoot. But if you have laser shooting, maybe you should have sound effects? I have no idea.
If you have laser shooting, maybe you should have sound effects?
Colleague Sebastian Samuelson:
– I think you need to be able to solve the lead problem in so many other ways. If there needs to be a lead law now, it’s not because biathletes release so much lead into nature. But we’re shooting in a very limited area and we can shoot it.
– So I’m probably a little negative about that. I think it would change the sport too much. Wind is no longer a factor, you don’t get recoil… And then there’s some of the allure that it’s a real gun, even if it’s perhaps a little old-fashioned.
Photo: Tomi Hänninen/Bildbyrån
Bjorn Ferry, who together with his wife Heidi Andersson in several ways changed lifestyle for the sake of the climate, he says he understands the objections.
Several activists say that the electronic filming would take away the charm, or if you want, the soul of the biathlon. Do you agree?
– Yes, but it is so. But take ski jumping, when Jan Boklöv started riding V-style, people thought it was awfully bad, but now everyone jumps like that. Sooner or later you get to a point where the question becomes: what is the soul and what is the preserver? says Ferry.
– In the end it will be unreasonable. If you zoom out and see where we’ll be in 20 years, you probably wouldn’t say it’s that important that it smells like gunpowder.
Are there any disadvantages?
– No. The only thing you might think about is wind power, but you can get into that too. There is, after all, in computer games, that you have a wind parameter and you need to aim a bit left when shooting. And if you want it to pop, you can have some sound effects.
Read more:
Climate threat to winter sports: ‘It will be a challenge to compete’
