BEIJING, Feb 9, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - As Olympic preparations go, it takes some
beating.

   US biathlete Leif Nordgren watched his wife give birth to their first
child via video call from the Beijing Games the day before his first race,
after being apart from her since mid-November.

   His wife's due date was initially February 4, the day of the opening
ceremony.

   "That was really cool," 32-year-old Nordgren said of watching the birth of
his daughter.

   "It was really nice to be on video chat and talking with my wife pretty
much the entire time. A really special day for our family."

   He came 87th in Tuesday's 20-kilometre individual biathlon.

   "I can barely handle how cute this girl is, and I can't wait to get home
to meet her!! @caitlinnordgren we did good," he wrote on Instagram on
Wednesday alongside a picture of his newborn daughter.

   His wife Caitlin Nordgren, a meteorologist for NBC, told the US
broadcaster before she gave birth that the couple had realised as soon as she
was pregnant that it was "not good timing for us".

   "Finding out Leif would most likely not be here for our baby's arrival was
absolutely sad," she had written on Instagram.

   But she said there was "a silver lining" because her husband's presence
inside the strict Covid-19 'bubble' surrounding the Olympics meant she could
easily get hold of him.

   "He's essentially in a little bit of a lockdown and therefore he will be a
little bit more available to answer my phone calls and things like that," she
said.

   "I can't wait to get the Games over with and get back home," Leif Nordgren
said after the race. "It's really exciting to have something so big to go
home to now."