Samppa Lajunen (born 23 April 1979 in

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

) is a retired

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

Nordic combined Nordic combined is a winter sport in which athletes compete in cross-country skiing and ski jumping. The Nordic combined at the Winter Olympics has been held since the first ever Winter Olympics in 1924, while the FIS Nordic Combined World Cup ...

athlete who competed during the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Athletic career

A winner of five

Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

medals, his career highlight came at the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

when Lajunen won all three gold medals in the Nordic combined events. He also won silver medals at the

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in the ...

Nagano Nagano may refer to: Places * Nagano Prefecture, a prefecture in Japan ** Nagano (city), the capital city of the same prefecture *** Nagano 1998, the 1998 Winter Olympics *** Nagano Olympic Stadium, a baseball stadium in Nagano *** Nagano Universi ...

in both the 15 km individual and 4 × 5 km team events. Lajunen also found success at the

FIS Nordic World Ski Championships The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships is a biennial nordic skiing event organized by the International Ski Federation (FIS). The World Championships was started in 1925 for men and opened for women's participation in 1954. World Championship eve ...

, winning eight medals. This included one gold (4 × 5 km team: 1999), four silvers (15 km individual: 1999, 2001; 4 × 5 km team: 1997, 7.5 km sprint: 2001); and three bronzes (15 km individual: 2003, 4 × 5 km team: 2001, 2003) Lajunen ended his career after the season 2003/2004 at a quite early age, 24 years old, and concentrated on his studies at the

University of Jyväskylä The University of Jyväskylä ( fi, Jyväskylän yliopisto) is a research university in Jyväskylä, Finland. It has its origins in the first Finnish-speaking Teacher Training College (the so-called Teacher Seminary), founded in 1863. Ar ...

. In the spring of 2007 he graduated with a Master's degree in Economics and Business Administration.

References

* 1979 births Living people Finnish male Nordic combined skiers Olympic gold medalists for Finland Olympic silver medalists for Finland Nordic combined skiers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Nordic combined skiers at the 2002 Winter Olympics Sportspeople from Turku FIS Nordic Combined World Cup winners Nordic combined Grand Prix winners University of Jyväskylä alumni Olympic medalists in Nordic combined FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in Nordic combined Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1998 Winter Olympics {{Finland-skijumping-bio-stub