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"Last year, everybody talked about him and that he needed to retire. But I was one of the ones who trusted in him and I always told him that he had to follow his own way. Today he shut the mouths of all the people who were speaking about him."

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"He's as good now as he's ever been. He's single-handedly changed the sport. He really turned it into a professional sport, in the late '90s, I would say. He's very innovative, and he became so dominant that everyone else had to react to the way he was training to be competitive."

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"If there's one guy outside of our four that I wanted to see win, it was him," said Canadian Scott Perras, looking more than a little bit starry eyed. "Forty years old, and what an inspiration."
Perras recalled how the Canadians had held a pre-Olympic camp at the ski area in northern Italy where Bjoerndalen was training alone � where Perras said the Norwegian had asked workers to specially groom a meadow to prepare him for the courses in Sochi.
"Once the normal uphill ended, they added another section," Perras said. "You'd just see him do his loop, go back up the hill, do his loop. So it's no wonder."
In the mean time, his performance in the sprint will serve as something for his competitors to aspire to, according to Perras, the Canadian.
"Just to see him train, how focused and dedicated he was," Perras said, referring to his time watching Bjoerndalen at the Italian ski area. "He's just really pushing the sport, still."

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"I know for a fact everyone is happy every time he steps on the podium. We want to see him if it's not going to be us. Why do we like the winningest guy of all time? I don't know, but I think it's because we believe he's done it the right way. He's worked hard over the years. He's put in the time. He's clean. We all believe that."

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"Ole is a very special man, he's one of the best endurance athletes ever. To be still winning races at his age and to be so dedicated and focused is amazing. I'm just in awe of him as an athlete, I know for sure I won't still be doing this at 40".

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"I must admit I told him, 'Maybe you should not compete this season � you could stop on top'. I am very glad he didn't listen to me."

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"That was really a great feeling to compete with him. That moment was so great. For me, biathlon is Bjoerndalen, and Bjoerndalen is biathlon".