Thomas Wassberg
Thomas Wassberg in December 2013
Country Sweden
Full nameLars Thomas Wassberg
Born (1956-03-27) 27 March 1956
Årjäng, Sweden
Height185 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Ski clubÅsarna IK
World Cup career
Seasons7 – (1982–1988)
Individual wins6
Team wins7
Indiv. podiums18
Team podiums10
Indiv. starts44
Team starts11
Overall titles0 – (2nd in 1982, 1984, 1987)
Medal record
Men's cross-country skiing
Representing  Sweden
International nordic ski competitions
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Olympic Games 4 0 0
World Championships 3 3 1
Total 7 3 1
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place1980 Lake Placid15 km
Gold medal – first place1984 Sarajevo50 km
Gold medal – first place1984 Sarajevo4 × 10 km relay
Gold medal – first place1988 Calgary4 × 10 km relay
World Championships
Gold medal – first place1982 Oslo50 km
Gold medal – first place1987 Oberstdorf30 km classical
Gold medal – first place1987 Oberstdorf4 × 10 km relay
Silver medal – second place1985 Seefeld15 km
Silver medal – second place1987 Oberstdorf15 km classical
Silver medal – second place1987 Oberstdorf50 km freestyle
Bronze medal – third place1985 Seefeld4 × 10 km relay

Lars Thomas Wassberg (born 27 March 1956) is a Swedish former cross-country skier. A fast skating style – push for every leg – is still called "Wassberg" after him in several countries. Wassberg's skiing idols when growing up were Sixten Jernberg and Oddvar Brå. He has described his mental strength and physical fitness as his greatest abilities as a skier, with his main weakness being a lack of sprinting ability.[1]

Wassberg won four Olympic gold medals: in 15 km (1980), 50 km (1984), and the 4 × 10 km relay (1984, 1988), and served as the Olympic flag bearer for Sweden in 1988.[2] At the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, he earned three golds (50 km: 1982, 30 km: 1987, and 4 × 10 km relay: 1987), three silvers (15 km: 1985, 1987; 50 km (1987), and one bronze (4 × 10 km relay: 1985). Additionally, Wassberg won the 50 km at the Holmenkollen ski festival three times (1980, 1982 and 1987) and the 15 km twice (1979, 1985).[3]

At the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, Wassberg edged out Finland's Juha Mieto by 0.01 seconds in the 15 km, the closest cross-country ski race in Olympic history. Wassberg subsequently suggested to Mieto that the gold medal should be split between them "as one one-hundredth of a second is nothing in a 15-kilometer race". This incident led the International Ski Federation (FIS) to change their timing to the nearest one-tenth of a second. It also resulted in an apocryphal urban legend that Wassberg and Mieto's medals were cut in half and re-welded into half-gold, half-silver medals.[4] At the 1984 Winter Olympics, Wassberg beat out fellow Swede Gunde Svan by 4.9 seconds in the 50 km, the closest margin of victory ever in that event until Giorgio Di Centa edged out Yevgeny Dementyev by 0.8 seconds at the 2006 Winter Olympics though the 2006 event was a mass start event while the 1984 event was an interval start event.

He won the World Cup in 1977, and in 1980 was awarded the Holmenkollen medal. For some reason his teammate Sven-Åke Lundbäck did not receive the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal in 1978. In protest to this decision Wassberg refused to accept his Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal in 1980.[3][5]

According to Bengt Erik Bengtsson, Chief of the Nordic Office of the FIS from 1984 to 2004, Wassberg was the first to suggest in 1984 the splitting of the sport of cross country skiing into classic and freestyle disciplines. This was subsequently implemented by FIS in 1986.[6]

After retiring from competitions Wassberg worked as a sports reporter for Swedish Radio and a cross-country skiing coach for his club Åsarna IK. In 2009 he appeared on Swedish television in the show contests Mästarnas mästare, and in 2016 participated in Let's Dance 2016 which was broadcast on TV4.[7] In the 2010s he oversaw the preparation of ski tracks for Åsarna IK, organized bird hunting events for tourists and worked as a forester.[3]

Cross-country skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).[8]

Olympic Games

  • 4 medals – (4 gold)
 Year   Age   15 km   30 km   50 km   4 × 10 km 
 relay 
19761915——4
198023Gold4—5
198427—14GoldGold
198831—42DNFGold

World Championships

  • 7 medals – (3 gold, 3 silver, 1 bronze)
 Year   Age   15 km   30 km   50 km   4 × 10 km 
 relay 
1982251816Gold5
198528Silver4—Bronze
198730SilverGoldSilverGold

World Cup

Season standings

 Season   Age  Overall
1982252nd place, silver medalist(s)
1983265
1984272nd place, silver medalist(s)
1985283rd place, bronze medalist(s)
19862915
1987302nd place, silver medalist(s)
19883119

Individual podiums

  • 6 victories
  • 18 podiums
No. Season Date Location Race Level Place
11981–829 January 1982West Germany Reit im Winkl, West Germany15 km IndividualWorld Cup3rd
216 January 1982Switzerland Le Brassus, Switzerland15 km IndividualWorld Cup2nd
327 February 1982Norway Oslo, Norway50 km IndividualWorld Championships[1]1st
412 March 1982Sweden Falun, Sweden30 km IndividualWorld Cup3rd
519 March 1982Czechoslovak Socialist Republic Štrbské Pleso, Czechoslovakia15 km IndividualWorld Cup2nd
61982–8326 February 1983Sweden Falun, Sweden30 km IndividualWorld Cup2nd
727 March 1983Canada Labrador City, Canada30 km IndividualWorld Cup3rd
81983–8419 February 1984Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Sarajevo, Yugoslavia50 km IndividualOlympic Games[1]1st
925 February 1984Sweden Falun, Sweden30 km IndividualWorld Cup2nd
102 March 1984Finland Lahti, Finland15 km IndividualWorld Cup2nd
111984–8522 January 1985Austria Seefeld, Austria15 km IndividualWorld Championships[1]2nd
129 March 1985Sweden Falun, Sweden30 km IndividualWorld Cup3rd
1314 March 1985Norway Oslo, Norway15 km IndividualWorld Cup1st
141985–868 March 1986Sweden Falun, Sweden30 km Individual CWorld Cup1st
151986–8712 February 1987West Germany Oberstdorf, West Germany30 km Individual CWorld Championships[1]1st
1615 February 198715 km Individual CWorld Championships[1]2nd
1721 February 198750 km Individual FWorld Championships[1]2nd
1821 March 1987Norway Oslo, Norway50 km Individual CWorld Cup1st

Team podiums

  • 7 victories
  • 10 podiums
No. Season Date Location Race Level Place Teammates
11983–8416 February 1984Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Sarajevo, Yugoslavia4 × 10 km RelayOlympic Games[1]1stKohlberg / Ottosson / Svan
226 February 1984Sweden Falun, Sweden4 × 10 km RelayWorld Cup1stÖstlund / Ottosson / Svan
3 1984–85 24 January 1985Austria Seefeld, Austria4 × 10 km RelayWorld Championships[1]3rdÖstlund / Eriksson / Svan
410 March 1985Sweden Falun, Sweden4 × 10 km RelayWorld Cup2ndÖstlund / Mogren / Svan
517 March 1985Norway Oslo, Norway4 × 10 km RelayWorld Cup1stEriksson / Danielsson / Svan
6 1985–86 13 March 1986Norway Oslo, Norway4 × 10 km Relay FWorld Cup3rdMajbäck / Håland / Danielsson
71986–8717 February 1987West Germany Oberstdorf, West Germany4 × 10 km Relay FWorld Championships[1]1stÖstlund / Svan / Mogren
88 March 1987Sweden Falun, Sweden4 × 10 km Relay CWorld Cup1stÖstlund / Mogren / Majbäck
919 March 1987Norway Oslo, Norway4 × 10 km Relay CWorld Cup1stOttosson / Mogren / Eriksson
101987–8824 February 1988Canada Calgary, Canada4 × 10 km Relay FOlympic Games[1]1stOttosson / Svan / Mogren

Note: 1 Until the 1999 World Championships and the 1994 Winter Olympics, World Championship and Olympic races were included in the World Cup scoring system.

References

  1. ↑ "Cross Country Legend Thomas Wassberg (SWE) in Interview". Fischer Sports. 14 November 2014. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  2. ↑ Sweden. sports-reference.com
  3. 1 2 3 Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Thomas Wassberg". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020.
  4. ↑ Perman, Cindy (2013). New York Curiosities, 2nd: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 151. ISBN 9780762774968.
  5. ↑ Thomas Wassberg. Swedish Olympic Committee
  6. ↑ Bengt Erik Bengtsson (2010). "Cross country skating: how it started". Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  7. ↑ "Deltagare i Let's dance – tv4.se". tv4.se. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  8. ↑ "WASSBERG Thomas". FIS-Ski. International Ski Federation. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
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