Gunde Anders Svan (born 12 January 1962) is a Swedish former cross-country skier and

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

driver. During his cross-country skiing career he won a total of four gold, one silver and one bronze medals at the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, 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 held i ...

. Svan won a total of seven golds, three silvers, and one bronze at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. Svan also won the 15 km once (1983) and the 50 km twice (1986, 1990) at the

Holmenkollen ski festival The Holmenkollen Ski Festival ( or ) is a traditional annual Nordic skiing event in Holmenkollen, Oslo, Norway. The full official name of the event is Holmenkollen FIS World Cup Nordic. History It takes place in March and has been arranged every ...

. In 1984, he earned the

Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal The Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal (, but usually simply called ''Bragdguldet'', "The Feat Gold") is an annual award "for the most significant Sweden, Swedish sports achievement of the year". It has been awarded by a jury led by the Swedish morning ...

, and in 1985, he earned the Holmenkollen medal (shared with Anette Bøe and Per Bergerud). In both 1984 and 1985 did Svan win the Jerring Award. He is a board member of the

International Ski Federation The International Ski and Snowboard Federation, also known as FIS (), is the highest international governing body for skiing and snowboarding. It was previously known as the International Ski Federation () until 26 May 2022 when the name was cha ...

Biography

During his skiing career he became known for his dedication and attention to detail. For instance, he used a lighter alloy on the tips of his ski poles, saving . He won two golds ( 15 km and

relay A relay Electromechanical relay schematic showing a control coil, four pairs of normally open and one pair of normally closed contacts An automotive-style miniature relay with the dust cover taken off A relay is an electrically operated switc ...

), one bronze ( 30 km) and one silver ( 50 km) at the

1984 Winter Olympics The 1984 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIV Olympic Winter Games (Serbo-Croatian language, Serbo-Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; Serbian Cyrillic alphabet, Serbian Cyrillic: ; ) and commonly known as Sarajevo '84 (Serbian Cy ...

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

. At the

1988 Winter Olympics The 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Calgary 1988 were a multi-sport event held from February 13 to 28, 1988, with Calgary, Calgary, Alberta as the main host city. This marks the m ...

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

, he won two golds for 50 km and relay. He also won the World championship gold six times and won the World cup five times. As a competitor in

rallycross Rallycross is a form of sprint style motorsport held on a mixed-surface circuit (racing), racing circuit using modified production touring automobile, cars or prototype racing cars. It began in the 1960s as a cross between rallying and autocross ...

he got one gold medal in the Swedish Championship and a bronze medal in the FIA European Championship for Rallycross Drivers (1995: Division 1 – Group N category; with a

Toyota Celica GT-Four The Toyota Celica GT-Four is a high performance model of the Toyota Celica, Celica Liftback that was produced from 1986 to 1999, with a Turbocharger, turbocharged ''Toyota S engine#3S-GTE, 3S-GTE'' engine, and full-time Four-wheel drive, AWD. I ...

). One of the reasons for getting into another sport was that some people called him a natural skier while he himself maintained that it's just a matter of will and dedication, according to his famous tagline "nothing is impossible". He applied the same methods to his driving as his skiing and even built his own reaction-tester to practice for the rallycross eminently important starts. When his compatriot and teamboss, the late Christer Bohlin, was not able to fulfill his promise to upgrade his Toyota team for 1996 into the top ERC category (Division 2 by then), Svan quit and gave up rallycross. After retiring from his athletic career he has worked as the host for some game shows such as the Swedish versions of '' American Gladiators'' and '' Fort Boyard'' along the swedish national lotery '' Bingolotto''. He has played a seductive lady in the short movie ''En handelsresandes nöd'', directed by rock group Svenne Rubins and starring Claes Månsson,

Björn Skifs Björn Nils Olof Skifs (; born 20 April 1947) is a Swedish singer, songwriter, actor, and screenwriter. Skifs has represented Sweden twice in the Eurovision Song Contest, in the 1978 contest and in the 1981 contest. Career Björn Skifs formed ...

and Gert Klötzke. He has also appeared in numerous commercials including a famous commercial where he impersonated fellow skier Thomas Wassberg. Svan resigned from his position as Chief of Cross-Country for Sweden on the week of 4 May 2009 after he was involved in its reorganization. He participated in '' Let's Dance 2018'' broadcast on TV4 where he finished third together with Jeanette Carlsson. He retired to his forest farm, where he worked with his son, Ferry Svan, and now supports his children's careers.

Cross-country skiing results

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

Olympic Games

* 6 medals – (4 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze)

World Championships

* 11 medals – (7 gold, 3 silver, 1 bronze)

World Cup

Season titles

* 5 titles – (5 overall)

Season standings

Individual podiums

* 30 victories * 46 podiums

Team podiums

* 9 victories * 14 podiums Note: Until the 1999 World Championships and the

1994 Winter Olympics The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, were an international winter multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 February 1994 in and around Lillehammer, Norway. Hav ...

, World Championship and Olympic races were included in the World Cup scoring system.

Racing record

Complete FIA European Rallycross Championship results

Division 1

References

External links

* * * * * *
May 8, 2009 article on changes in cross-country skiing, including Svan's resignation.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Svan, Gunde 1962 births Living people People from Järna, Vansbro Municipality Cross-country skiers from Dalarna County Cross-country skiers at the 1984 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 1988 Winter Olympics Holmenkollen medalists Holmenkollen Ski Festival winners Olympic cross-country skiers for Sweden Olympic gold medalists for Sweden Swedish male cross-country skiers Swedish racing drivers Olympic medalists in cross-country skiing FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in cross-country skiing FIS Cross-Country World Cup champions Medalists at the 1984 Winter Olympics Dala-Järna IK cross-country skiers Medalists at the 1988 Winter Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Sweden Olympic bronze medalists for Sweden FIA European Rallycross Championship drivers 20th-century Swedish sportsmen