Bjørn Dæhlie

Bjørn Dæhlie
Personal information
Full name Bjørn Erlend Dæhlie
Date of birth 19 June 1967 (1967-06-19) (age 43)
Place of birth Elverum, Norway
Professional information
Club Nannestad IL
World Cup
Seasons 1989–1999
Wins 46
Additional podiums 35
Total podiums 81
Infobox last updated on: 25 January 2010
Medal record
Men's cross-country skiing
Olympic Games
Gold 1992 Albertville 10 km + 15 km combined pursuit
Gold 1992 Albertville 50 km
Gold 1992 Albertville 4 x 10 km
Gold 1994 Lillehammer 10 km
Gold 1994 Lillehammer 10 km + 15 km combined pursuit
Gold 1998 Nagano 10 km
Gold 1998 Nagano 50 km
Gold 1998 Nagano 4 x 10 km
Silver 1992 Albertville 30 km
Silver 1994 Lillehammer 30 km
Silver 1994 Lillehammer 4 x 10km
Silver 1998 Nagano 10 km + 15 km combined pursuit
World Championships
Gold 1991 Val di Fiemme 15 km
Gold 1991 Val di Fiemme 4 x 10 km
Gold 1993 Falun 30 km
Gold 1993 Falun 10 km + 15 km combined pursuit
Gold 1993 Falun 4 x 10 km
Gold 1995 Thunder Bay 4 x 10 km
Gold 1997 Trondheim 10 km
Gold 1997 Trondheim 10 km + 15 km combined pursuit
Gold 1997 Trondheim 4 x 10 km
Silver 1995 Thunder Bay 10 km
Silver 1995 Thunder Bay 30 km
Silver 1995 Thunder Bay 50 km
Silver 1997 Trondheim 30 km
Silver 1999 Ramsau 4 x 10 km
Bronze 1993 Falun 50 km
Bronze 1997 Trondheim 50 km
Bronze 1999 Ramsau 30 km

Bjørn Erlend Dæhlie (born 19 June 1967) is a retired Norwegian cross-country skier and a record eight-time Olympic champion. He also won nine World Championship titles in his career. He won a total of 29 medals in the Olympics and World Championships in the period 1991 to 1999, making Dæhlie the most winning cross-country skier of all time.

Dæhlie, born in Elverum, was the dominant cross-country skier of the 1990s. His eight Olympic titles are a record for the Winter Olympics, as is his total of 12 Olympic medals (he also won four silver medals) which he amassed in three Olympics (Albertville, Lillehammer and Nagano). In addition to his achievements at the Olympics he had great success in the world championships (17 medals of which 9 gold), especially in 1997 when he earned medals in all five events. A career-ending roller skiing accident in 2000 prevented Dæhlie from adding to his collection of medals. Despite his unanticipatedly early exit from the sport, Dæhlie is generally considered the greatest cross-country skier of all time.

Dæhlie attributes much of his success in sports to his upbringing. Hunting, fishing, hiking, kayaking, soccer and of course, skiing. These activities were all part of his life from a very young age. For much of his childhood Dæhlie wanted to be a soccer player, but after being prompted by a coach he tried Nordic skiing. Dæhlie did not have immediate success as a junior racer but he improved every year and after years of training he qualified for the FIS World Cup competitions.

In addition to being an athletic figurehead, Dæhlie is a cultural icon in Norway. A shrewd businessman, Dæhlie has been heavily featured in advertising campaigns, he started a brand of signature ski apparel, and he even co-hosted a television show called Gutta på tur.

Dæhlie also had a go as an inventor by inventing the Salomon Nordic System Pilot Bindings.

Bjørn Dæhlie has allegedly the highest score in a VO2 max test of 96 ml/kg/min. The test was taken during the off-season. According to the test administrator, physiologist Erlend Hem, it is likely that Dæhlie would have surpassed 100 ml/kg/min had the test been taken mid-season.

Despite the fact that he never won an event at the Holmenkollen ski festival, Dæhlie was awarded the Holmenkollen medal in 1997 (shared with Bjarte Engen Vik and Stefania Belmondo).

After retiring Dæhlie has become a successful businessman in real estate and fashion. His real estate investments have produced a fortune of more than 200 million kroner.

He also helps non-profits for causes like multiple sclerosis.[1]

References

  1. ↑ Tallying a Birkebeiner score card

Training and rumors

Later there were rumous that Dählie's success based on EPO or other blood manipulation. Anyway, there were not such evidences. However, Dählies career placed years, when EPO was not able to tested. Some worst rivals has revealed, that EPO was widely in use at that time in skisport.

See also

Olympic champions in men's 10 km cross country
1992: Vegard Ulvang (NOR) * 1994: Bjørn Dæhlie (NOR) * 1998: Bjørn Dæhlie (NOR)
Olympic champions in men's cross-country combined/double pursuit
10 km + 15 km combined
1992: Bjørn Dæhlie (NOR) * 1994: Bjørn Dæhlie (NOR) * 1998: Thomas Alsgaard (NOR)
10 km + 10 km combined
2002: Thomas Alsgaard (NOR) & Frode Estil (NOR)
15 km + 15 km double
2006: Yevgeny Dementyev (RUS) * 2010: Marcus Hellner (SWE)
Olympic champions in men's 50 km cross country
1924: Thorleif Haug (NOR) * 1928: Per-Erik Hedlund (SWE) * 1932: Veli Saarinen (FIN) * 1936: Elis Wiklund (SWE) * 1948: Nils Karlsson (SWE) * 1952: Veikko Hakulinen (FIN) * 1956: Sixten Jernberg (SWE) * 1960: Kalevi Hämäläinen (FIN) * 1964: Sixten Jernberg (SWE) * 1968: Ole Ellefsæter (NOR) * 1972: Pål Tyldum (NOR) * 1976: Ivar Formo (NOR) * 1980: Nikolay Zimyatov (URS) * 1984: Thomas Wassberg (SWE) * 1988: Gunde Svan (SWE) * 1992: Bjørn Dæhlie (NOR) * 1994: Vladimir Smirnov (KAZ) * 1998: Bjørn Dæhlie (NOR) * 2002: Mikhail Ivanov (RUS) * 2006: Giorgio Di Centa (ITA) * 2010: Petter Northug (NOR)
Olympic champions in men's 4 x 10 km cross-country relay
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 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) * 2010: Sweden (Daniel Rickardsson, Johan Olsson, Anders Södergren & Marcus Hellner)
World champions in men's 10 km cross country
1991: Terje Langli (NOR) * 1993: Sture Sivertsen (NOR) * 1995: Vladimir Smirnov (KAZ) * 1997: Bjørn Dæhlie (NOR) * 1999: Mika Myllylä (FIN)
World champions in men's 18 km/15 km cross-country
18 km
1925: Otakar Německý (TCH) * 1927: John Lindgren (SWE) * 1929: Veli Saarinen (FIN - 17 km) * 1930: Arne Rustadstuen (NOR - 17 km) * 1931: Johan Grøttumsbråten (NOR) * 1933: Nils-Joel Englund (SWE) * 1934: Sulo Nurmela (FIN) * 1935: Klaes Karppinen (FIN) * 1937: Lars Bergendahl (NOR) * 1938: Pauli Pitkänen (FIN) * 1939: Juho 'Jussi' Kurikkala (FIN) * 1950: Karl-Erik Åström (SWE)
15 km
1954: Veikko Hakulinen (FIN) * 1958: Veikko Hakulinen (FIN) * 1962: Assar Rönnlund (SWE) * 1966: Gjermund Eggen (NOR) * 1970: Lars-Göran Åslund (SWE) * 1974: Magne Myrmo (NOR) * 1978: Józef Łuszczek (POL) * 1982: Oddvar Brå (NOR) * 1985: Kari Härkönen (FIN) * 1987: Marco Albarello (ITA) * 1989 freestyle: Gunde Svan (SWE) * 1989 classical: Harri Kirvesniemi (FIN) * 1991: Bjørn Dæhlie (NOR) * 2001: Per Elofsson (SWE) * 2003: Axel Teichmann (GER) * 2005: Pietro Piller Cottrer (ITA) * 2007: Lars Berger (NOR) * 2009: Andrus Veerpalu (EST)
World champions in men's cross-country combined/double pursuit
10 km + 15 km combined
1993: Bjørn Dæhlie (NOR) * 1995: Vladmir Smirnov (KAZ) * 1997: Bjørn Dæhlie (NOR) * 1999: Thomas Alsgaard (NOR)
10 km + 10 km combined
2001: Per Elofsson (SWE)
10 km + 10 km double
2003: Per Elofsson (SWE)
15 km + 15 km double
2005: Vincent Vittoz (FRA) * 2007: Axel Teichmann (GER) * 2009: Petter Northug (NOR)
World champions in men's 30 km cross-country skiing
1926: Matti Raivio (FIN) * 1954: Vladimir Kuzin (URS) * 1958: Kalevi Hämäläinen (FIN) * 1962: Eero Mäntyranta (FIN) * 1966: Eero Mäntyranta (FIN) * 1970: Vyacheslav Vedenin (URS) * 1974: Thomas Magnusson (SWE) * 1978: Sergey Savelyev (URS) * 1982: Thomas Eriksson (SWE) * 1985: Gunde Svan (SWE) * 1987: Thomas Wassberg (SWE) * 1989: Vladimir Smirnov (URS) * 1991: Gunde Svan (SWE) * 1993: Bjørn Dæhlie (NOR) * 1995: Vladimir Smirnov (KAZ) * 1997: Alexey Prokurorov (RUS) * 1999: Mika Myllylä (FIN) * 2001: Andrus Veerpalu (EST) * 2003: Thomas Alsgaard (NOR)
World champions in men's 4 x 10 km cross-country relay
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 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) * 2009: Norway: (Eldar Rønning, Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset, Tore Ruud Hofstad & Petter Northug)
Holmenkollen Medal
1895: Viktor Thorn (NOR) * 1897: Asbjørn Nilssen (NOR) * 1899: Paul Braaten (NOR), Robert Pehrson (NOR) * 1901: Askel Refstad (NOR) * 1903: Karl Hovelsen (NOR) * 1904: Harald Smith (NOR) * 1905: Jonas Holmen (NOR) * 1907: Per Bakken * 1908: Einar Kristiansen (NOR) * 1909: Thorvald Hansen * 1910: Lauritz Bergendahl * 1911: Otto Tangen (NOR), Knut Holst (NOR) * 1912: Olav Bjaaland (NOR) * 1914: Johan Kristoffersen (NOR) * 1915: Sverre Østbye (NOR) * 1916: Lars Høgvold (NOR) * 1918: Hans Horn (NOR), Jørgen Hansen (NOR) * 1919: Thorleif Haug (NOR), Otto Aasen (NOR) * 1923: Thoralf Strømstad (NOR) * 1924: Harald Økern (NOR), Johan Grøttumsbråten (NOR) * 1925: Einar Landvik (NOR) * 1926: Jacob Tullin Thams * 1927: Hagbart Haakonsen (NOR), Einar Lindboe (NOR) * 1928: Torjus Hemmestveit (NOR), Mikkjel Hemmestveit (NOR) * 1931: Hans Vinjarengen (NOR), Ole Stenen (NOR) * 1934: Oddbjørn Hagen (NOR) * 1935: Arne Rustadstuen (NOR) * 1937: Olaf Hoffsbakken (NOR), Birger Ruud (NOR), Martin P. Vangsli (NOR) * 1938: Reidar Andersen (NOR), Johan R. Henriksen (NOR) * 1939: Sven Selånger (SWE), Lars Bergendahl (NOR), Trygve Brodahl (NOR) * 1940: Oscar Gjøslien (NOR), Annar Ryen (NOR) * 1947: Elling Rønes (NOR) * 1948: Asbjørn Ruud (NOR) * 1949: Sigmund Ruud (NOR) * 1950: Olav Økern (NOR) * 1951: Simon Slåttvik (NOR) * 1952: Stein Eriksen (NOR), Torbjørn Falkanger (NOR), Heikki Hasu (FIN), Nils Karlsson (SWE) * 1953: Magnar Estenstad (NOR) * 1954: Martin Stokken (NOR) * 1955: King Haakon VII (NOR), Hallgeir Brenden (NOR), Veikko Hakulinen (FIN), Sverre Stenersen (NOR) * 1956: Borghild Niskin (NOR), Arnfinn Bergmann (NOR), Arne Hoel (NOR) * 1957: Eero Kolehmainen (FIN) * 1958: Inger Bjørnbakken (NOR), Håkon Brusveen (NOR) * 1959: Gunder Gundersen (NOR) * 1960: Helmut Recknagel (GDR), Sixten Jernberg (SWE), Sverre Stensheim (NOR), Tormod Knutsen (NOR) * 1961: Harald Grønningen (NOR) * 1962: Toralf Engan (NOR) * 1963: Alevtina Kolchina (URS), Pavel Kolchin (URS), Astrid Sandvik (NOR), Torbjørn Yggeseth (NOR) * 1964: Veikko Kankkonen (FIN), Eero Mäntyranta (FIN), Georg Thoma (FRG), Halvor Næs (NOR) * 1965: Arto Tiainen (FIN), Bengt Eriksson (SWE), Arne Larsen (NOR) * 1967: Toini Gustafsson (SWE), Ole Ellefsæter (NOR) * 1968: King Olav V (NOR), Assar Rönnlund (SWE), Gjermund Eggen (NOR), Bjørn Wirkola (NOR) * 1969: Odd Martinsen (NOR) * 1970: Pål Tyldum (NOR) * 1971: Marjatta Kajosmaa (FIN), Berit Mørdre Lammedal (NOR), Reidar Hjermstad (NOR) * 1972: Rauno Miettinen (FIN), Magne Myrmo (NOR) * 1973: Einar Bergsland (NOR), Ingolf Mork (NOR), Franz Keller (FRG) * 1974: Juha Mieto (FIN) * 1975: Gerhard Grimmer (GDR), Oddvar Brå (NOR), Ivar Formo (NOR) * 1976: Ulrich Wehling (GDR) * 1977: Helena Takalo (FIN), Hilkka Kuntola (FIN), Walter Steiner (SUI) * 1979: Ingemar Stenmark (SWE), Erik Håker (NOR), Raisa Smetanina (URS) * 1980: Thomas Wassberg (SWE) * 1981: Johan Sætre (NOR) * 1983: Berit Aunli (NOR), Tom Sandberg (NOR) * 1984: Lars-Erik Eriksen (NOR), Jacob Vaage (NOR), Armin Kogler (AUT) * 1985: Anette Bøe (NOR), Per Bergerud (NOR), Gunde Svan (SWE) * 1986: Britt Pettersen (NOR) * 1987: Matti Nykänen (FIN), Hermann Weinbuch (FRG) * 1989: Marja-Liisa Kirvesniemi (FIN) * 1991: Vegard Ulvang (NOR), Trond Einar Elden (NOR), Ernst Vettori (AUT), Jens Weißflog (GER) * 1992: Yelena Välbe (RUS) * 1993: Emil Kvanlid (NOR) * 1994: Lyubov Yegorova (RUS), Vladimir Smirnov (KAZ), Espen Bredesen (NOR) * 1995: Kenji Ogiwara (JPN) * 1996: Manuela Di Centa (ITA) * 1997: Bjarte Engen Vik (NOR), Stefania Belmondo (ITA), Bjørn Dæhlie (NOR) * 1998: Fred Børre Lundberg (NOR), Larisa Lazutina (RUS), Alexey Prokurorov (RUS), Harri Kirvesniemi (FIN) * 1999: Kazuyoshi Funaki (JPN) * 2001: Adam Małysz (POL), Bente Skari (NOR), Thomas Alsgaard (NOR) * 2003: Felix Gottwald (AUT), Ronny Ackermann (GER) * 2004: Yuliya Chepalova (RUS) * 2005: Andrus Veerpalu (EST) * 2007: Frode Estil (NOR), Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset (NOR), King Harald V (NOR), Queen Sonja (NOR), Simon Ammann (SUI) * 2010: Marit Bjørgen (NOR)
Awards
Preceded by
Johann Olav Koss		 Norwegian Sportsperson of the Year
1995		 Succeeded by
Vebjørn Rodal
Preceded by
Hanne Haugland
Nils Arne Eggen		 Norwegian Sportsperson of the Year
1998		 Succeeded by
Lasse Kjus