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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.
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.
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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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