Roar Ljøkelsøy
Roar Ljøkelsøy ( born May 31, 1976 in Orkdal ) is a former Norwegian ski jumper.
Biography
With nine years Ljøkelsøy completed his first jump, under the supervision of Terje Nyhus. Two years later he won his first competition at 13, he was district champion. With 14/15 years, he ended his footballing career and went to Trondheim, where he spent four years attended the Heimdal Vidergaende Skole. That same winter he won the Norges Cup for Juniors, finished fifth at the Junior World Championships and finally came to the Norwegian World Cup team. There he made his debut at age 16, shortly after he won first World Cup points in Planica. There followed years in mediocrity with rare spikes upward. In 1995, he first stood on the podium again in Planica, but soon broke a Norwegian ski jumping depression that would last years and in Ljøkelsøy had a sad symbol of their figures. A low point was the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, where the team finished ninth, behind Korea.
Success only came with the coaching change in 2002, as the new national team coach, the Finn Mika Kojonkoski led nationwide Sichtungsprogramme through in order to search out and promote this the best talent.
In the Ski Flying World Championships 2004 in Planica was Ljøkelsøy World Champion in singles and with the team. The 2003/2004 season he finished, following a dramatic season finale in second in the overall World Cup, he could repeat in the following season. The best jump of his career showed Ljøkelsøy, 2004 in Oberstdorf, its 223 meters, exceeding the previous hill record by 10 yards - until then, it was considered impossible to stand such a width at the Heini Klopfer ski jump. In the Nordic World Ski Championships 2005 in Oberstdorf, he won the silver medal in jumping on the large hill and a bronze medal with the team. In the Ski Flying World Cup 2006 in Tauplitz / Bad Mitterndorf ( Kulm ), he was able to defend his title from 2004 successfully. He twice won the individual competition and so won the Goldmedadaille. The next day he again won the gold medal with his team in the team competition. This Ljøkelsøy is next to the Austrian Gregor Schlierenzauer the only ski jumper who has won four gold medals ski flying.
At the Olympic Winter Games 2006 in Turin was Ljøkelsøy third of the normal hill and fourth from the large hill. In the Nordic World Ski Championships in Sapporo 2007 he won the bronze medal in the individual competition and silver with the team.
After the 2009/10 season, he ended his active career. In the Ski Flying World Championships 2010 in Planica he made his final flight.
Ljøkelsøy is father of a son named Socrates and athlete ambassador of development organization Right to Play.