Bjørn Dæhlie

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Bjørn Dæhlie (born June 19, 1967) is a retired Norwegian cross-country skier. He has won eight Olympic titles and nine World Championship titles. Dæhlie is widely considered as the greatest cross-country skier of all time.^{[citation needed]}

Dæhlie, born in Elverum, was the dominant cross-country skier of the 1990s. His 8 Olympic titles are a record for an athlete at the Winter Olympics, as is his total of 12 Olympic medals (he also won 4 silver medals) which he amassed in three Olympics (Albertville, Lillehammer, and Nagano). In addition to his Olympic record, he had great success at the world championships (17 medals; 9 gold), especially in 1997 when he won medals in all five events. If it had not been for a career-ending roller skiing crash, Dæhlie would have had the opportunity to add to his collection of medals. Despite his unanticipatedly early exit from the sport, Dæhlie is generally considered the greatest Nordic skier of all time.

Dæhlie attributes much of his later success in sport to his upbringing. Hunting, fishing, hiking, kayaking, soccer, and, of course, skiing 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 prompting by a coach tried Nordic skiing. Although Dæhlie did not have immediate success as a junior racer, he improved every year, and after years of training qualified for FIS World Cup competition.

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, started a brand of signature ski apparel, and even co-hosted a television show called Gutta på tur.

He was the person who came up with the idea for the Salomon Nordic System Pilot Bindings.

Bjørn Dæhlie has the world record for the highest score of a VO2 max test, 96 ml/kg/min. The test was taken when Bjørn was out of season. Therefore it's very likely that he could pass the 100 ml/kg/min score if the test was taken mid-season, that was also stated by the one who was responsible for the test, physiologist Erlend Hem.

Despite the fact 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).

Since retiring, Dæhlie has been growing as a successful businessman in real estate and fashion.

[edit] References

• FIS-Ski: Bjoern Daehlie - statistics
• Holmenkollen medalists - click Holmenkollmedaljen for downloadable pdf file (Norwegian)
• Official website