From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gunde Svan (born January 12, 1962 in Dala-Järna) is a former Swedish cross country skier and auto racing driver. During his career he won a total of four gold, one silver and one bronze medals at the Winter Olympics. Svan won a total of seven golds (15 km - 1989; 30 km and 4 x 10 km - 1985, 1991; 50 km - 1985, 1989; and 4 x 10 km - 1987), three silvers (15 km, 50 km, 4 x 10 km (All 1991)), and one bronze (4 x 10 km - 1985) at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. Svan also won the 15 km once (1983) and the 50 km twice (1986, 1990) at the Holmenkollen ski festival. In 1984, he earned the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal and in 1985, he earned the Holmenkollen medal (shared with Anette Bøe and Per Bergerud). He is currently active as a board member of the International Ski Federation.
[edit] Biography
During his skiing career he became known for his dedication and attention to details. For instance he used a lighter alloy on the tips of his ski poles saving four grams. He won two golds (15 km and relay), one bronze (30 km) and one silver (50 km) at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo. At the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, he won two golds for 50 km and relay. He also won the World championship gold six times and won the World cup five times.
As a competitor in rallycross he got one gold medal in the Swedish Championship and a bronze medal in the FIA European Championship for Rallycross Drivers (1995: Division 1 – Group N category; with Toyota Celica GT-Four). One of the reasons for getting into another sport was that some people called him a natural skier while he himself maintained that it's just a matter of will and dedication. He applied the same methods to his driving as his skiing and even built his own reaction-tester to practice the for rallycross eminently important starts.
After retiring from his athletic career he has worked as the host for some game shows such as the Swedish version of American Gladiators, Fort Boyard and Bingolotto. He has played a seductive lady in the short movie En handelsresandes nöd, directed by Svenne Rubin and starring Claes Månsson, Björn Skifs and Gert Klötzke. He has also appeared in numerous commercials including a famous commercial where he impersonated fellow skier Thomas Wassberg.
[edit] References
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Olympic champions in men's 4 x 10 km cross country relay |
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1936 Finland - Sulo Nurmela, Klaes Karppinen, Matti Lähde, & Kalle Jalkanen * 1948 Sweden - Nils Östensson, Nils Täpp, Gunnar Eriksson, & Martin Lundström * 1952 Finland - Heikki Hasu, Paavo Lonkila, Urpo Korhonen, & Tapio Mäkelä * 1956 Soviet Union - Fyodor Terentyev, Pavel Kolchin, Nikolay Anikin, & Vladimir Kuzin * 1960 Finland - Toimi Alatalo, Eero Mäntyranta, Väinö Huhtala, & Veikko Hakulinen * 1964 Sweden - Karl-Åke Asph, Sixten Jernberg, Janne Stefansson, & Assar Rönnlund * 1968 Norway - Odd Martinsen, Pål Tyldum, Harald Grønningen, & Ole Ellefsæter * 1972 Soviet Union - Vladimir Voronkov, Yuri Skobov, Fyodor Simashev, & Vyacheslav Vedenin * 1976 Finland - Matti Pitkänen, Juha Mieto, Pertti Teurajärvi, & Arto Koivisto * 1980 Soviet Union - Vasily Rochev, Nikolay Bazhukov, Yevgeny Belyayev, & Nikolay Zimyatov * 1984 Sweden - Thomas Wassberg, Benny Tord Kohlberg, Jan Ottosson, & Gunde Svan * 1988 Sweden - Jan Ottosson, Thomas Wassberg, Gunde Svan & Torgny Mogren * 1992 Norway - Terje Langli, Vegard Ulvang, Kristen Skjeldal & Bjørn Dæhlie * 1994 Italy - Maurilio De Zolt, Marco Albarello, Giorgio Vanzetta & Silvio Fauner * 1998 Norway - Sture Sivertsen, Erling Jevne, Bjørn Dæhlie, & Thomas Alsgaard * 2002 Norway - Anders Aukland, Frode Estil, Kristen Skjeldal, & Thomas Alsgaard * 2006 Italy - Fulvio Valbusa, Giorgio di Centa, Pietro Piller Cottrer, & Cristian Zorzi |
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World champions in men's 4 x 10 km cross country relay |
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1933 Sweden - Per Erik Hedlund, Sven Utterström, Nils-Joel Englund, & Hjalmar Bergström * 1934 Finland - Sulo Nurmela, Klaes Karppinen, Martti Lappalainen, & Veli Saarinen * 1935 Finland - Mikko Husu, Klaes Karppinen, Väinö Liikkanen, & Sulo Nurmela * 1937 Norway - Annar Ryen, Oskar Fredriksen, Sigurd Røen, & Lars Bergendahl * 1938 Finland - Juho 'Jussi' Kurikkala, Martti Lauronen, Pauli Pitkänen, & Klaes Karppinen * 1939 Finland - Pauli Pitkänen, Olavi Alakulppi, Eino Olkinuora, & Klaes Karppinen * 1950 Sweden - Nils Täpp, Karl-Erik Åström, Martin Lundström, & Enar Josefsson * 1954 Finland - August Kiuru, Tapio Mäkelä, Arvo Viitanen, & Veikko Hakulinen * 1958 Sweden - Sixten Jernberg, Lennart Larsson, Sture Grahn, & Per-Erik Larsson * 1962 Sweden - Lars Olsson, Sture Grahn, Sixten Jernberg, & Assar Rönnlund * 1966 Norway - Odd Martinsen, Harald Grønningen, Ole Ellefsæter, & Gjermund Eggen * 1970 Soviet Union - Vladimir Voronkov, Valery Tarakanov, Fyodor Simashev & Vyacheslav Vedenin * 1974 East Germany - Gerd Hessler, Dieter Meinel, Gerhard Grimmer & Gert-Dietmar Klause * 1978 Sweden - Sven-Åke Lundbäck, Christer Johansson, Tommy Limby & Thomas Magnusson * 1982 Norway - Lars-Erik Eriksen, Ove Aunli, Pål Gunnar Mikkelsplass, & Oddvar Brå and 1982 Soviet Union - Vladimir Nikitin, Alexander Batyuk, Yuriy Burlakov, & Alexander Zavyalov * 1985 Norway - Arild Monsen, Pål Gunnar Mikkelsplass, Tor Håkon Holte, & Ove Aunli * 1987 Sweden - Erik Östlund, Gunde Svan, Thomas Wassberg, & Torgny Mogren * 1989 Sweden - Christer Majbäck, Gunde Svan, Lars Håland, & Torgny Mogren * 1991 Norway - Øyvind Skaanes, Terje Langli, Vegard Ulvang, & Bjørn Dæhlie * 1993 Norway - Sture Sivertsen, Vegard Ulvang, Terje Langli, & Bjørn Dæhlie * 1995 Norway - Sture Sivertsen, Erling Jevne, Bjørn Dæhlie, & Thomas Alsgaard * 1997 Norway - Sture Sivertsen, Erling Jevne, Bjørn Dæhlie, & Thomas Alsgaard * 1999 Austria - Markus Gandler, Alois Stadlober, Mikhail Botvinov, & Christian Hoffmann * 2001 Norway - Frode Estil, Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset, Thomas Alsgaard, & Tor Arne Hetland * 2003 Norway - Anders Aukland, Frode Estil, Tore Ruud Hofstad, & Thomas Alsgaard * 2005 Norway - Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset, Frode Estil, Lars Berger, & Tore Ruud Hofstad * 2007 Norway - Eldar Rønning, Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset, Lars Berger, & Petter Northug |
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Sweden
