THE NEXT MICHEAL PHELPS?

As an American in the biathlon, Tim Burke is used to being overlooked by the sport’s most passionate fans. His German and Norwegian rivals are celebrities in their home countries, where biathlon is broadcast live on television and races draw up to 30,000 spectators. In Germany, he is perhaps best known as the boyfriend of Andrea Henkel, a two-time Olympic gold medalist. So when Burke took first place in the World Cup standings last weekend — the first time an American has ever done so — his achievement stunned the sport’s mostly European fan base. “They’ve always been at the top of these sports,” Burke said by telephone this week from Oberhof, Germany. “I think it would be like our Olympic basketball team getting beat by the Germans. I don’t think that would sit so well at home.” Back in the United States, however, Burke’s achievement is being hailed as the culmination of a plan hatched four years ago to transform the Americans into world-class competitors. Aided by an infusion of cash from the United States Olympic Committee, U.S. Biathlon, the sport’s governing body, has made changes as momentous as hiring a new head coach, and as seemingly trivial as tinkering with the way that athletes hold their rifles. Burke was awarded as the Olympic Athlete of the week. Could Burke, who ran on the cover of the New York Times sports section Friday, be the next Micheal Phelps of American Olympic competitors?