Norway at the Winter Olympic Games
Norway made its debut at the 1924 Chamonix Winter Olympic Games and has taken part at all Winter Olympics since then. The Scandinavian nation is a powerhouse in cross-country skiing, speed skating, biathlon, Nordic combined, alpine skiing and ski jumping. It is the most successful of all countries at the Winter Olympic Games, having won the most number of medals, a surprising record considering it is a country of just over 5 million people.
The Nordic nation happens to be one of only three countries alongside Austria and Liechtenstein to capture more medals at the Winter Games than at the Summer Games, and have won the most number of medals ever nudging out sporting powers such as the United States, Russia and Germany. The total medal count for Norway in 2018 was 39, a record for the most medals won at a single Winter Olympics, surpasing the 37 medals won by the United States (whose population is more than sixty-times that of Norway's) at Vancouver in 2010.
Athletes
Nowegian athletes hold the top three spots of the most successful athletes at the Winter Olympics. The most medals won by any athlete at the Winter Olympic Games is 15 by cross-country skier Marit Bjørgen (8 gold, 4 silver, 3 bronze). Next best is biathlete Ole Einar Bjoerndalen with a total of 13 medals (8 gold), followed by cross-country skier Bjorn Dählie with 12 medals (8 gold).
Norwegian Einar Landvik competing in Chamonix in 1924 - Marit Bjoergen - Female cross-country skier, is regarded as the most successful athlete in the history of the Winter Olympics with 15 medals (8 gold, 4 silver, 3 bronze).
- Ole Bjoerndalen - a biathlete, he is the most successful Winter Olympics male athlete, having won a total of 13 medals (8 of them gold).
- Bjørn Dæhlie - the most successful male cross-country skier in history, having won 12 medals (8 gold, 4 silver) between 1992 and 1998.
- Sonja Henie won three consecutive gold medals in figure skating, winning the first at the St Moritz Winter Olympics in 1928 at the age of 15.
- Jacob Tullin Thams is one of only five athletes to have ever captured medals in both the Summer and Winter Games. He also earned the distinction of winning the nation’s first Olympic ski jumping gold medal in 1924 and was a member of 8-meter sailing team that won a silver medal at the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympic Games.
Trivia
- In Oslo in 1952, 28-year-old Norwegian truck driver Hjalmar Andersen won three speed-skating gold medals, setting Olympic records in two of the events.
- In Grenoble 1968, Norway won the most medals for the first time (14), coming in one ahead of the Soviet Union.
- In 1968, Odd Martinsen from Norway won a silver medal in the men's 30km cross-country race, while in 2002, his daughter Bente Skari-Martinsen won bronze in the same event for women.
- In Sapporo in 1972, Norway's Magne Myrmo became the last athlete to win a cross-country skiing event using all-wooden skis.
- Eirik Kvalfoss won three medals in biathlon (gold, silver, and bronze), a third of Norway's medals in Sarajevo 1984.
- In 1992, Vegard Ulvang and Bjorn Daehlie of Norway dominated the Nordic skiing men's cross-country races with three gold medals each.
- In the speed skating competition in 1994, Norway's Johann Olav Koss won three gold medals, setting a world record in each event.
- In 2002, Norway's Ole Einar Bjørndalen won all four men's biathlon events.
Related Pages
- Norway at the Summer Olympics
- About sport in Norway
- More Winter Olympics Countries
- Winter Olympics main page.
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