Vegard Ulvang
Vegard Ulvang ( born October 10, 1963 in Kirkenes ) is a retired Norwegian cross-country skier. He is married to Grete Ingeborg Nykkelmo.
Career
Ulvang participated in the Olympic Winter Games in Calgary 1988, Albertville in 1992 and Lillehammer in 1994 and won it a total of six medals (3x gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze ).
Immediately before the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer made Ulvang for excitement when he strongly criticized the organization of the International Olympic Committee. He had difficulty with the undemocratic features of the IOC, which were mainly represented by its chairman Juan Antonio Samaranch. The chairman of the Norwegian Olympic Committee, Gerhard Heiberg, had to do a lot of work to smooth things over again.
At World Championships Ulvang won eight medals ( 2 gold, 2 silver, 4 bronze). In the Cross Country World Cup, he won nine races and in 1990 won the overall standings. In 1991 he received the Holmenkollen medal. A year later he won the election to Norway's Sportsman of the Year.
A personal blow Ulvang met on 10 October 1993, when his two years older brother Kjetil in a frosty night on a 25 km stretch near his parents' home in Kirkenes disappeared without a trace. Despite one of the biggest bailouts of Norway, the search remained after the physiotherapist who was himself one of the 100 best skiers of his country, without result. Norway took part in the family tragedy that Ulvang paralyzed in sporting terms. In the following 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, he said the Olympic oath. He did not succeed to defend his Olympic victories of Albertville; he won only a silver medal with the Norwegian season. A few days later, the four-month search was discontinued after his brother.
In the following years World Cup Ulvang did not match previous success and ended his career in 1997 at the home World Championships in Trondheim, where he had not gone beyond the role of the substitute 's.
After retiring from professional racing Ulvang began to study medicine in Oslo and was promoted later to the athlete representative on the International Ski Federation FIS. Even as a businessman he was successful. When he sold his shares in the company Elite Sports in January 2004, he received, according to the Norwegian financial portal Hegnar.no between 25 and 35 million Norwegian kroner ( € 3.1 to 4.4 m).
In May 2006 Ulvang was unanimously elected chairman of the cross-country skiing Commission of the FIS. Together with the Swiss Jürg Capol Ulvang has created the concept of the Tour de Ski, which was carried out in 2006 /07 for the first time.
Achievements
Olympic Winter Games
World Championships
World Cup
- 9 wins in World Cup race
- Appreciation Cross Country World Cup: 1st in 1990, 2nd in 1989 and 1992, 3rd place in 1991 and 1993