Display Case: Winter Olympics Memorabilia - Biathlon

Winter Olympics Memorabilia - Biathlon

This case represents a lifetime of service to the sport of Biathlon by Vermonter, Max Cobb.

What is Biathlon? Biathlon blends cross-country skiing with rifle shooting, demanding both endurance and precision. Competitors race in Nordic skiing between targets where they are scored on both time and precision of shots. It requires a great deal of breath control and stamina to compete in biathlon.

Max Cobb started his competitive biathlon career at Dartmouth. He then went on to work for US Biathlon, eventually becoming its director 1992. A highlight of his career was being Chief of Competition for the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. In 2022, he was named Secretary General of the International Biathlon Union, the first time an American has ever held this role.

Max now lives part of the year in Vermont and most of the year in Salzburg, Austria. He oversees all things biathlon on the world stage – monitoring trail and snow conditions, making difficult decisions about athlete and country participation in the sport, and touring war-torn training area in Ukraine to see the impact of war on sports.

Note: The Olympic torch (Beijing 2008) is technically a SUMMER Olympics item, but it was too cool not to include! Max Cobb was invited to run a portion of the 2008 Olympic torch relay. He ran this torch through the streets of San Francisco, CA and then got to keep it! His wife, Rosemary, had a hard time flying back to Vermont with it – it’s not everyday TSA sees an Olympic torch in someone’s luggage!

Enjoy this display during open hours throughout the month of February. 

If you like the Olympics, be sure to check out one of our Olympic viewing parties:

Feb 06, 2026 | 2:00pm - 4:30pm (Opening Ceremonies)

Feb 13, 2026 | 12:00pm - 5:00pm

South Burlington Public Library: Community Room