Christian Olsson (born 25 January 1980) is a former Swedish

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

competing in

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

and

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down the tr ...

. He won an Olympic gold medal, one gold and one silver medal in the World Championships and two gold medals in the European Championships as well as a further two golds in the World Indoor championships. He also won the overall

IAAF Golden League The IAAF Golden League was an annual series of outdoor track and field meetings organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). Athletes who won specific events at all of the series meetings were awarded a jackpot prize ...

jackpot in 2004 where he cashed in 500,000 US dollars (after splitting the million dollar pot with Tonique Williams-Darling). From 2007 to his retirement in 2012, he was beset by injuries which left him largely on the sidelines and unable to compete at top level competitions.

Biography

Olsson was born in

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

, and made his international breakthrough in 2001 when he won silver at the

2001 World Championships in Athletics The 8th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada between 3 and 12 August 2001 and was the first time the event ...

. He has the Swedish national record outdoors, 17.79 m (

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

), and the Swedish national record indoors, 17.83 m (2004). Olsson has won the Swedish Championships seven times, and has also competed successfully on national level in

ing. On 7 March 2004, at the 2004 World Indoor Championships in Athletics, he jumped 17.83 m and matched the

World Record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

. On 23 August 2004, at the

, he jumped 17.79 m, broke the national record and won the gold medal as the first Swede since Gustaf Lindblom in

1912 This year is notable for Sinking of the Titanic, the sinking of the ''Titanic'', which occurred on April 15. In Albania, this leap year runs with only 353 days as the country achieved switching from the Julian to Gregorian Calendar by skippin ...

, 92 years earlier. Four of his six jumps were longer than the silver medalist's best jump. With the Olympic Gold he completed a rare international sweep, having the Olympic, World Indoor, Outdoor, Regional (European) Indoor and Outdoor titles. Olsson first became interested in triple jump after watching

Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Edwards may refer to: Musicians *Jonathan and Darlene Edwards, pseudonym of bandleader Paul Weston and his wife, singer Jo Stafford *Jonathan Edwards (musician) (born 1946), American musician **Jonathan Edwards (album), ''Jonathan Edward ...

set the world record at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

in his hometown Gothenburg. Since 1999, Olsson has been trained by Yannick Tregaro. Before that, Olsson was trained by Viljo Nousiainen. During the autumn and winter 2004/2005 he injured his foot (an injury originating from the 2004 Olympic Final), preventing him from being able to do triple-jumping at full speed. Unfortunately the injury healed very slowly, and it was still in January 2006 hampering him. In his first competition after the injury, in June 2006, he jumped 17.09 and seem to be back into shape. A month later he won the gold medal at

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

in his hometown Gothenburg, with a jump of 17.67 m. At the beginning of the 2007 indoor season, Olsson was injured yet again, and was unable to compete at the

European indoor championships The European Indoor Championships was a men's tennis tournament played in Berlin, Germany. The event was played as part of the ATP Tour in 1990 and 1991. It was played on indoor carpet court A carpet court is a type of tennis court. The Intern ...

. Olsson returned to competition in June at the

event in Oslo, jumping 17.33 m. In July, he won Golden League event in Paris with 17.56 m. At the Golden League event in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, he retired after the second round due to a

cramp A cramp is a sudden, involuntary, painful skeletal muscle contraction or overshortening associated with electrical activity. While generally temporary and non-damaging, they can cause significant pain and a paralysis-like immobility of the aff ...

. Olsson went to the

2007 World Championships in Athletics The 11th World Championships in Athletics, () under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), were held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan from 24 August to 2 September 2007. 200 of the IAAF's 212 member feder ...

but had to pull out before the competition due to an injury during training. After almost one year of rehabilitation, he returned to competition in July 2008 at the annual event in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, "DN Galan", but had to pull out due to injury. Afterwards, he announced that he would not compete anymore during the 2008 season; hence he would not participate in the Beijing Olympics. He also suggested that he might retire from the sport. Upon a request from the Swedish Olympic team, Olsson agreed to carry the Swedish flag during the opening ceremony. In July 2009, Olsson made a comeback in a minor event arranged by Örgryte IS in

. He then jumped 17.24 m. On 3 August 2009 Olsson competed in Swedish Championships in Malmö. He won the competition with a jump at 16.72 m. This was the first competition Olsson failed to reach 17 m or more since he jumped in a competition in Birmingham in 2003. On 14 May 2012, Olsson ultimately declared his intentions to retire from professional triple jump competitions. Christian Olsson lives with his family in

Lindome Lindome () is a civil parish and a locality situated in Mölndal Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 13,830 inhabitants in the parish in 2009 (11,037 inhabitants in the locality in 2010). The Swedish comic creator Rune Andreasson ...

, south of

Competition record

Other victories

Triple jump

*2001:

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

(Grand Prix) - 17.08 m;

Vaasa Vaasa (; , ), formerly (1855-1917) known as Nikolaistad (; ),Rethymno Rethymno (also Rethymnon; ) is a city in Greece on the island of Crete. It is the capital of Rethymno regional unit, and has a population of more than 35,000 inhabitants (nearly 40,000 for the municipal unit). It is believed to have been built ...

(athletics meet) - 17.49 m *2002:

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

(Grand Prix) - 17.40 m;

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

(European Cup first league) - 17.63 m;

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

(

) - 17.63 m; Berlin (Golden League) - 17.40 m; Paris (Grand Prix Final) - 17.48 m *2003:

Lappeenranta Lappeenranta (; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of South Karelia. It is located in the southeastern interior of the country and in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Lappeenranta is approximately , while the Lappeenranta sub-r ...

(European Cup first league) - 17.38 m; Rethymno (athletics meet) - 17.55 m;

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

(Grand Prix) - 17.92(w) m;

(Grand Prix) - 17.36 m; Monaco ( World Athletics Final) - 17.55 m *2004:

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

(Grand Prix) - 17.61 m;

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

(Golden League) - 17.58 m;

Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz is a city in northern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Kuyavia. Straddling the confluence of the Vistula River and its bank (geography), left-bank tributary, the Brda (river), Brda, the strategic location of Byd ...

(European Cup super league) - 17.30 m; Gateshead (Grand Prix) - 17.43 m; Rome (Golden League) - 17.50 m; Paris Saint-Denis (Golden League) - 17.41 m;

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

(Golden League) - 17.46 m;

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

(Golden League) - 17.44 m; Berlin (Golden League) - 17.45 m; Monaco ( World Athletics Final) - 17.66 m *2006:

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

(European Cup super league) - 17.40 m;

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

(Grand Prix) - 17.62 m; London (Grand Prix) - 17.42 m; Zürich (Golden League-meet) - 17.39 m *2007: Vaasa (European Cup first league) - 17.33 m; Paris Saint-Denis (Golden League) - 17.56 m; Rome (Golden League) - 17.19 m

International awards

* Waterford Crystal European Athlete of the Year Trophy 2004 *Waterford Crystal European Athlete of the Year Trophy 2003

Personal bests

Triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down the tr ...

**Indoor - 17.83 metres **Outdoor - 17.79 metres *

High jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

- 2.28 metres *

Long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

- 7.71 metres

References

External links

* * * *
BBC Sports Article - (2004 Summer Olympics)

BBC Sports Article - (2003 World Championships in Athletics)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Olsson, Christian 1980 births Living people Athletes from Gothenburg Olympic athletes for Sweden Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Sweden Swedish male triple jumpers Swedish male high jumpers Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Monaco World Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Örgryte IS Friidrott athletes Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Goodwill Games medalists in athletics IAAF Golden League winners European Athlete of the Year winners World Athletics Indoor Championships winners World Athletics Championships winners Competitors at the 2001 Goodwill Games Diamond League winners 21st-century Swedish sportsmen