Gunde Svan

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.

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.

References

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* [http://www.skiforeningen.no/holmenkollen/holmenkollen_historikk Holmenkollen medalists] - click Holmenkollmedaljen for downloadable pdf file no icon
* [http://www.skiforeningen.no/holmenkollen/holmenkollen_historikk Holmenkollen winners since 1892] - click Vinnere for downloadable pdf file no icon