Biathlon growth pleases Macone Mainer worked at ’60 Olympics

PRESQUE ISLE – Rockland resident John Macone spent Friday at the Nordic Heritage Center during the Biathlon World Junior Championships taking a look at something he helped start. Macone was one of the people who recommended that biathlon be included in the 1960 Olympic Games in Squaw Valley, Calif.

Macone, who in the 1950s was working in Oregon and was hired as the director of information for the Olympics, was sent to Sweden in 1958 for that nation’s national biathlon championships. The organizing committee had dropped the bobsled and was trying to decide between luge and biathlon to be included in the program.

Once Macone got a look at the biathlon, he knew he wanted to recommend it for Squaw Valley.

“I thought it was just a great sport,” said the 76-year-old Macone, native of Concord, Mass. “I like to shoot. I’m not a hunter, but my family were all marksmen. Because of that I was very impressed with the Swedish championships. I still have pictures of all of that. I was very impressed, and I think it’s a wonderful sport.”

Eventually, Macone held the title of assistant executive director for the 1960 Olympics.

Macone and a friend from Rockland, Steven Waterman, drove up from Rockland Thursday. They spent some time near the shooting range and also watched races from the ski lodge.

He was in awe of the volunteers and spectators Friday.

“I was just remarking to a friend on the telephone, this is more impressive to me that the ones in Austria and the ones in Sweden,” Macone said of the biathlon competitions he watched in Europe. “I was telling him about how impressive it was to have 600 volunteers. It’s just incredible.”

Macone got another look at biathlon about a year ago. He was in Underhill, Vt., where he watched a girl, about 19, practicing on a shooting range with a coach.

“And I said, ‘Gee, I didn’t realize that biathlon was that widespread,”‘ he said. “When I heard about [the world championships] I thought it was a great idea.”

Macone, who spent some time in Brooklin as a youngster, retired to Rockland in 1976 after living in Vermont for 17 years. His son, John A. Macone, lives in Hampden with Macone’s two grandchildren, who attend Hampden Academy. His granddaughter, Kathleen Macone, is the only girl on the Hampden hockey team.

Russians lead the way

The French men and German women cleaned up in Friday’s relays, but it was the Russians who will leave the world championships in Presque Isle with the most hardware.

Russia won medals in 12 events, including four golds, four silvers and four bronzes. France was second with eight third-place finishes, and Germany was third with seven medals.

Twelve nations overall recorded top-three finishes.

Norway, the Czech Republic, and Austria each claimed four medals.

France’s Marion Blondeau will take home the biggest haul on the women’s side. She earned gold in the junior individual, silver in the relay and the pursuit, and a bronze in the sprint. For the men, Russia’s Evgeny Ustyugov collected a gold in the junior individual and pursuit along with a silver in the relay.