Martin Fourcade is the only biathlete in history to win the World Cup 7 times in a row. He also won 5 Olympic Games and is the owner of 11 gold medals from the World Championships.
Dreams of gold and snow
In November 2017, Martin Fourcade's autobiography Dreams of Gold and Snow was published. The first edition was in French, later the book was translated into other languages, including Russian. The book is mainly devoted to sports, the formation of Martin as an athlete, his tough attitude towards doping. But there are chapters in which the biathlete lifts the veil over his personal life. He frankly talks about his acquaintance with Helen, whom he calls the love of his life. He writes warmly about the family.
The Martin family kept a mini-hotel near the Font-Romeu resort. The nearest neighbors lived 15 kilometers away. Mother, a speech therapist by profession, conducted a home reception. My father worked as a guide, took tourists to the mountains. The future champion was the middle of three children of the Fourcade family. Together with his older brother Simon and the younger Bris, he helped his parents. “We often received guests ourselves while the parents were working. We were responsible, independent, free,”Martin recalls in his autobiography.
Sport in the family was one of the main occupations. Parents and their children went in for downhill skiing, snowshoeing, cycling, and hiking. Martin tried judo, then hockey. Later, all the brothers switched to cross-country skiing. Martin got into biathlon after his brother Simon, who was the first to decide to master this sport.
Helen, the love of your life
For many years, there is only one woman next to the champion. Her name is Helen Usabiaga and she works as a teacher in a regular school. Martin and Helene met a long time ago. It was in the Alps, Martin then participated in the French Biathlon Championships among clubs, and Helene was fond of alpine skiing. The future champion was about 12 years old, Helen was a year older. Martin was never distinguished by his complexities, he liked the girl, so he slipped a note under the door of her room with the words: "Would you like to kiss me?" Helen, however, was not impressed by such courtship and she replied with a short: "Oh no!"
In the next path, the young people crossed a year later, they were practically imprisoned due to a snow storm in the ski resort of Font-Romeu. Martin again tried to get to know Helene better. “I think this time I was less clumsy. At this age, you quickly learn and change …”- he recalls in his autobiography.
A very beautiful and touching story of the first youthful love began. Martin and Helene exchanged paper letters and talked for hours on the phone. Over time, their connection practically ceased due to the distance from each other: Helene went to study in Toulouse, and Martin began to show high results in sports and was torn between training camps, trainings and championships.
They renewed their relationship at the age of 17-18, and have not parted since then. They do not part mentally, because physically Martin spends a lot of time outside the house, the title of the best is not given so easily, a lot of sacrifices have to be made, in the case of Martin and Helen, time spent with his family has to be sacrificed.
Despite the fact that Helene has been Martin's faithful companion for over 10 years, they are not officially married. Although in all his interviews, Martin calls Helen his wife. He always speaks about her with warmth and sincere love: “I am convinced that without her I would not have been able to build a career. She gave me the stability I needed. I never lied to her about what kind of life awaits me."
Manon and Ines - the champion's daughters
In March 2015, Martin announced that he and Helene were preparing to become parents for the first time. During pregnancy, the couple moved to Norway, where the parents-to-be spent most of the summer.
On September 10, 2015, Martin and Helen became parents for the first time. A girl was born, who was named Manon.
In January 2017, it became known that a replenishment was expected in the biathlete's family again. The estimated due date was set for the end of March. There were notes in the press that Martin was going to skip the end of the season in order to attend the birth. After consulting with his common-law spouse, Martin decided to run the last race. The second daughter of the biathlete was born on March 23, 2017, just 3 days after the final race of the 2016/17 season. The girl was named Ines, and Martin won his sixth World Cup.
The common-law spouse and beloved daughters sometimes accompany the athlete at international competitions. They give Martin the sense of balance and stability that he needs so much. At one of the races in 2019, after the final firing line, when it became obvious that Martin would win this race, the athlete turned towards the spectator stands and threw up his hand triumphantly. Someone saw in this a gesture of bragging and self-righteousness. Later, Martin explained that he turned to his eldest daughter, who had asked the day before: "Dad, why didn't you win today?" And he promised her to win tomorrow.
Martin Fourcade is quite active on his Instagram, he has over 400 thousand subscribers. The biathlete often uploads photos and videos from training and competitions. But photos from family archives on his page are rare.
