May 24, 2007 (Calgary, AB) – Canada’s top biathlon coaches will have a sharper eye on the target, and ultimately, the podium this winter thanks to a new official sports optics sponsorship, Biathlon Canada announced on Thursday.

Carl Zeiss Sports Optics, a leading company in the precision engineering and optical industry, will provide high-quality spotting scopes to national team coaches over the next four years, and will also sponsor Biathlon Canada’s male and female Coach of the Year Awards, which will be re-named the Zeiss Male and Female Coach of the Year Awards.

“The Zeiss sponsorship will play a major role in supporting our national team coaches as they work with our best athletes and also in the associations coaching recognition program,” said Joanne Thomson, executive director, Biathlon Canada. “Their recognition and involvement is vital to the continued development of coaches at every level in our sport, and most importantly, will ultimately help create more top level Canadian athletes in biathlon.”

The annual awards were created to recognize one male and one female coach every year for their demonstrated meaningful and long-term involvement with a club, division or national association.

In addition to the technical training coaches receive they must also be provided with the equipment to succeed. Through the partnership of Carl Zeiss Optical Inc., the recipients of the coaching awards will receive top of the line spotting scopes, and equipment in acknowledgement of their involvement and contribution at the grassroots level.

“When presented with the opportunity to provide Biathlon Canada with our Diascope Spotting Scopes for the Zeiss Coaches Awards we immediately recognized the importance of making available the tools they needed to undertake ongoing observation of the athletes in their care,” stated Rob Siemers, president of Carl Zeiss Optical, Inc. “For the long distances involved in training and competition, spotting scopes are an invaluable aid and we wanted to be sure Biathlon Canada had the best in our 85mm Diascopes. I believe they will significantly enhance the ability of the coaches to view and measure the progress of their athletes. ”

About Biathlon Canada
Biathlon Canada, the governing body for biathlon in the country, oversees the Canadian Championships, Eastern and Western Canadian Championships, and North American Cups held in Canada. The organization’s mandate is to provide national level programs for the continuous development of biathlon athletes from the grassroots to the elite level. For more information on Biathlon Canada, please visit their website at www.biathloncanada.ca.

About Zeiss
Carl Zeiss is a leading international group of companies operating worldwide in the optical and opto-electronic industry. Carl Zeiss AG is headquartered in Oberkochen, Germany. The business groups, which each operate with sole responsibility, are generally ranked first or second in the strategic markets of biosciences and medical technology, system solutions for industry and optical consumer goods. They offer products and services for biomedical research and medical technology, system solutions for the semiconductor, automotive and mechanical engineering industries, as well as high-quality consumer goods such as camera lenses and binoculars. In fiscal year 2005/06 (ended 30 September) the Carl Zeiss Group generated sales totaling EUR 2.4 billion. Carl Zeiss has 11,249 members of staff and is directly represented in more than 30 countries and operates production facilities in Europe, America and Asia.

The eyeglass business now operates as Carl Zeiss Vision International GmbH and is the number two eyeglass provider in the world. This company is owned 50:50 by Carl Zeiss AG and a private equity company. Further information is available at www.zeiss.com/sports or call 1-800-441-3005.