Norway at the 2006 Winter Olympics

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Norway at the Olympic Games

Flag of Norway
IOC code:   NOR
2006 Winter Olympics in Turin
Competitors 74 in 10 sports
Flag Bearer Pål Trulsen
Medals Gold
2
Silver
8
Bronze
9
Total
19
Summer Olympic Games appearances
1896190019041908191219201924192819321936194819521956196019641968197219761980198419881992199620002004
Winter Olympic Games appearances
19241928193219361948195219561960196419681972197619801984198819921994199820022006

Norway sent 74 athletes to the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. At the 2002 Winter Olympics Norway won the most gold medals, and before the Turin games, Norwegian sports officials were aiming for more than the 25 medals they won in Salt Lake City — the president of the Norges Skiforbund Sverre Seeberg was quoted saying he thought Norway would win 25 medals in the skiing events alone[1] (alpine skiing, cross country skiing, freestyle skiing, nordic combined and ski jumping). The Norwegian Olympic Committee aimed for Norway to be the best nation measured in the number of gold medals. However, Norway won only two gold medals in the games.

In addition to the skiing events, Norway also qualified athletes at biathlon, curling, skeleton, snowboarding and speed skating. In addition to IOC qualifying times, the Norwegian Olympic Committee have required that athletes need to place themselves once in the top six or twice in the top twelve in major individual events in the sport to be selected [2]. Curler Pål Trulsen served as flag bearer at the Opening Ceremonies.

Contents

[edit] Medals

[edit] Gold

[edit] Silver

[edit] Bronze

[edit] Events

[edit] Alpine skiing

Men's downhill

Team

Seven men were recommended by the national alpine skiing team to the Norwegian Olympic Committee on 26 January [3].

[edit] Biathlon

Six men and five women have been selected to participate in the Olympic competitions in Torino [4].

Women:

Men:

Two sprint competitors will be selected after the 20 km distance [5]. The competitors for the relay and mass start are as yet unknown; the pursuit competitors will be the same as those who are selected for sprint, assuming they finish in the top 60 on the sprint distance.

[edit] Cross-country skiing

On 9 January the selection of four male athletes for the sprint event was made public. A team for the sprint relay will not be selected before the Olympics.[6].

Following the conclusion of the individual events at the 2006 Norwegian Championships, a further thirteen skiers were selected[7]:

Women:

Men:

Sprint men (selected on 9 January):

Four skiers will be selected for each individual event, and this selection will not be made public until shortly before the event starts. The Norwegian director of cross country skiing sport, Bjørnar Håkensmoen, received "terribly many" reactions after he announced the team on 21 January, and the following day the newspaper Aftenposten asked him whether he "regretted" not selecting Petter Northug, who had won both the double pursuit and the relay (as part of a team representing Strindheim IL) at the Norwegian Skiing Championship[8].

[edit] Curling

The curling teams for men and women were nominated following the 2005 European Curling Championships, where Pål Trulsen and his team won gold for men, while Dordi Nordby finished fourth with her team. The teams are as follows, with their positions at the 2005 ECC in brackets:

Trulsen's team are the reigning Olympic champions – at their first Olympic Games, while Nordby finished seventh in 2002 and fifth in 1998. [9]

[edit] Freestyle skiing

Ingrid Berntsen and Kari Traa have been selected[10]; both have competed in moguls events during the 2005–06 season, and are ranked 13th and 2nd respectively in the FIS World Cup[11].

Women's Moguls

  • Kari Traa
    1. Qualification Run - 24.06 points
    2. Final Run - 25.65 points (Silver medal)
  • Ingrid Berntsen
    1. Qualification Run - 22.45 points
    2. Final Run - 19.84 points (19th place)

[edit] Nordic combined

Norway's best individual position at the 2002 Olympics was Kristian Hammer's eighth place in the Gundersen event, while Norway's team finished fifth[12]. However, Norway are defending World Champions at the team event after their gold in Oberstdorf in 2005, and Moan took silver and Hammer bronze at the 2005 World Championships. As of 20 December 2005, Tande was second in the World Cup standings, 110 points behind the leader Hannu Manninen. Moan was number three in the World Cup standings, a further 19 points adrift, and Hammer, Græsli and Klemetsen are all in the top 20. All five of the Nordic Combined athletes finished in the top ten in the sprint event at Ramsau am Dachstein on 18 December 2005, with Moan and Græsli securing a 1–2 finish for Norway, and Tande won the mass start event (not an Olympic competition) the previous day, with Moan third and Hammer fourth.

Individual Gundersen 15 km

Name 1st Round Final Round Jump Total 15 km Final Rank
Magnus Moan 119.5 118.0 237.5 38:20.8 Bronze medal
Petter Tande 131.5 130.5 262.0 39:58.9 4th place
Havard Klemetsen 117.0 112.0 229.0 40:46.5 20th place
Kristian Hammer 92.0 91.0 183.0 39:32.8 35th place

Large Hill Sprint

Name LH Jump Sprint 7.5 km Final Rank
Magnus Moan 111.8 17:38.4 (5.4 behind) Silver medal
Petter Tande 118.2 18:29.1 (30.1 behind) 6th place
Kristian Hammer 94.3 18:02.1 (1:39.1 behind) 28th place
Havard Klemetsen 98.0 19:15.6 (2:37.6 behind) 40th place

[edit] Skeleton

Women's skeleton

Name Run 1 Run 2 Total Final Rank
Desiree Bjerke 1:00.92 1:01.70 2:02.62 9th place

[edit] Ski jumping

Men's Large Hill Individual

    Final Round Jumps  
Name Qualification 1st Round Final Round Total Final Rank
Lars Bystoel 129.2 points (Pre-qualified) 121.5 points 129.2 points 250.7 points Bronze medal
Roar Ljoekelsoey 114.1 points (Pre-qualified) 127.8 points 115.0 points 242.8 points 4th place
Bjoern Einar Romoeren 120.9 points (Pre-qualified) 121.8 points 116.4 points 238.2 points 7th place
Sigurd Pettersen 115.9 points 106.3 points 96.2 points 202.5 points 24th place

Men's Normal Hill Individual

    Final Round Jumps  
Name Qualification 1st Round Final Round Total Final Rank
Lars Bystøl Jump disqualified (Pre-qualified) 131.0 points 135.5 points 266.5 points Gold medal
Roar Ljøkelsøy 120.5 points (Pre-qualified) 132.0 points 132.5 points 264.5 points Bronze medal
Bjørn Einar Romøren 118.0 points (Pre-qualified) 125.5 points 122.5 points 248.0 points 15th place
Sigurd Pettersen Disqualified - - - -

Men's Large Hill Team Jump

Name 1st Round Final Round Total Final Rank
Lars Bystoel 117.30 points 136.90 points
Bjoern Einar Romoeren 114.60 points 116.30 points
Tommy Ingebrigtsen 97.20 points 97.20 points
Roar Ljoekelsoey 123.30 points 147.30 points
Total 452.40 points 497.70 points 950.10 points Bronze medal

[edit] Snowboarding

[edit] Halfpipe

Men's Halfpipe

In Men’s Halfpipe, there were two qualifying runs. The top 6 men from each qualifying run were advanced to the finals. In the first qualifying run, the top 6 scores ranged from 39.4 - 43.8 points. In the second qualifying run, the top 6 scores ranged from a 37.9 - 45.3 points. Shaun White from the United States won the gold medal with a final run score of 46.8 points. Andy Finch of the United States had the lowest final score of 24.7 points and took 12th place.

  Qualification Final  
Name Run 1 Run 2 Run 1 Run 2 Final Rank
Kim Christiansen 31.0 points 5.1 points - - -
Frederik Austbo 29.2 points 13.0 points - - -
Halvor Lunn 24.2 points 26.4 points - - -

Women's Halfpipe

In Women’s Halfpipe, there were two qualifying runs. The top 6 women from each qualifying run were advanced to the finals. In the first qualifying run, the top 6 scores ranged from 34.5 - 44.9 points. In the second qualifying run, the top 6 scores ranged from a 34.8 - 43.1 points. Hannah Teter from the United States won the gold medal with a final run score of 46.4 points. Chikako Fushimi of the Japan had the lowest final score of 15.6 points and took 12th place.

  Qualification Final  
Name Run 1 Run 2 Run 1 Run 2 Final Rank
Kjersti Buaas 19.2 points 41.9 points 40.9 points 42.0 points Bronze medal

[edit] Speed skating

Men's 1000 m

Name Final Rank
Mikael Flygind-Larsen 1:10.13 14th place
Petter Andersen 1:10.38 18th place
Even Wetten 1:10.57 23rd place

Men's 1500 m

Name Final Rank
Petter Andersen 01:47.15 7th place
Mikael Flygind-Larsen 01:47.28 8th place
Even Wetten 01:47.78 10th place
Havard Bokko Did not finish -

Men's 5000 m

Name Final Rank
Oystein Grodum 6:24.21 8th place
Lasse Saetre 6:25.15 9th place
Eskil Ervik 6:26.91 10th place

Men's 10000 m

Name Final Rank
Oystein Grodum 13:12.58 4th place
Lasse Saetre 13:12.93 5th place
Eskil Ervik 13:37.62 11th place

Men's Team Pursuit

Name Preliminaries Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals Rank
Havard Bokko
Eskil Ervik
Mikael Flygind-Larsen
Oystein Grodum
Lasse Saetre
3:49.55 Defeated Germany Lost to Canada Bronze medal match
Lost to Netherlands
4th place

Women's 1500 m

Name Final Rank
Annette Bjelkevik 02:01.03 17th place
Maren Haugli 02:01.22 19th place
Hedvig Bjelkevik 02:02.16 26th place

Women's 3000 m

Name Final Rank
Maren Haugli 4:12.50 15th place
Annette Bjelkevik 4:17.57 23rd place

Women's 5000 m

Name Final Rank
Maren Haugli 07:06.08 8th place

Women's Team Pursuit

Name Preliminaries Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals Rank
Annette Bjelkevik
Hedvig Bjelkevik
Maren Haugli
3:06.34 Lost to Japan - Final D - Defeated China 7th place

[edit] Trivia

"Partly Norwegian" medal(ist)s

In the Norwegian media, two gold and one silver medal won by foreign athletes were humorously presented as part-Norwegian medals, since the medalists in question were of Norwegian descent or family:

Grateful Canadian XC ski fans

A large group of Canadian winter sports fans was delighted and impressed by the Norwegian cross-country skiing sports director Bjørnar Håkensmoen's impulsive display of sportsmanship when he handed Canadian skier Sara Renner a ski pole only seconds after her own broke during the sprint relay. Renner and team mate Beckie Scott went on to win the silver medal (while the Norwegians placed fourth).[13]

To show their appreciation, a group known as the "Independent Communications Dealers of Canada" mounted a "thank you" campaign called "Project Maple Syrup", organizing a shipment of 8,000 cans of maple syrup to Norway.[14]

[edit] References

  1.   (Norwegian) Tror på 25 OL-medaljer from NRK, accessed 20 December 2005
  2.   (Norwegian) OL-billetten glapp for Rune Stordahl from Bergens Tidende, accessed 21 December 2005
  3.   (Norwegian) Burre får OL-billett from Nettavisen, accessed 26 January 2006
  4.   (Norwegian) OL-uttak, from the Norwegian Biathlon Federation, accessed 22 January 2006
  5.   (Norwegian) OL-uttak skiskyting, by Svein Graff and Sjur B. Kvamme, from NRK, accessed 22 January 2006
  6.   (Norwegian) - Pallplass er målsettingen from VG, accessed 10 January 2006
  7.   (Norwegian) Ikke OL for Skofterud, from VG, published 22 January 2006
  8.   (Norwegian) Angrer du på uttaket? from Aftenposten, published 22 January 2006
  9.   (Norwegian) Dordi Nordby og curling, kvinner, from NRK, accessed 20 December 2005
  10.   (Norwegian) Sportsbørsen, p. 31, Aftenposten, 26 January 2006
  11.   FIS-Ski - Cup Standings, from the FIS website, accessed 26 January 2006
  12.   (Norwegian) Sportsboken 2002, published by Sportsboken AS in 2002, editor Tore Johansen, pp. 294–5
  13.   (Norwegian) Bjerke klarte OL-kravet, from NRK, accessed 20 December 2005
  14.   (Norwegian) Tre hoppere OL-klare, from NRK, published 25 January 2006
  15.   Kim Christiansen,  Daniel Franck,  Kjersti Buaas biographies, from the FIS website, accessed 20 December 2005
  16.   Petter Andersen – from skateresults.com, accessed 20 December 2005
  17.   Håvard Bøkko – from skateresults.com, accessed 20 December 2005
  18.   Eskil Ervik – from skateresults.com, accessed 20 December 2005
  19.   Mikael Flygind Larsen – from skateresults.com, accessed 20 December 2005
  20.   Øystein Grødum – from skateresults.com, accessed 20 December 2005
  21.   Essent ISU World Cup Speed Skating Ranks 2004–05 (PDF), compiled by Sport Computer Graphics and verified by Tron Espeli of the ISU Technical Committee, pg. 6, accessed 20 December 2005
  22.   Lasse Sætre – from skateresults.com, accessed 20 December 2005
  23.   Even Wetten – from skateresults.com, accessed 20 December 2005
  24.   See reference 21.
  25.   Maren Haugli – from skateresults.com, accessed 20 December 2005
  26. (Norwegian) Disse er klare for OL, a list of the 63 athletes officially selected, from Nettavisen, retrieved 26 January 2006
  27.   Canadians hail Norwegian coach's sportsmanship, from Aftenposten, published 16 February 2006
  28.   Sweet thanks from Canada, from Aftenposten, published 16 February 2006