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. 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. 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 ...

, 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 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 ...

three times (1980, 1982 and 1987) and the 15 km twice (1979, 1985). At the

1980 Winter Olympics The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially the XIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Lake Placid 1980, were an international multi-sport event held from February 13 to 24, 1980, in Lake Placid, New York, United States. Lake Placid was elected ...

in Lake Placid, Wassberg edged out

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

'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 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 ...

(FIS) to change their timing to the nearest one-tenth of a second. It also resulted in an apocryphal

urban legend Urban legend (sometimes modern legend, urban myth, or simply legend) is a genre of folklore concerning stories about an unusual (usually scary) or humorous event that many people believe to be true but largely are not. These legends can be e ...

that Wassberg and Mieto's medals were cut in half and re-welded into half-gold, half-silver medals. 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 ...

, Wassberg beat out fellow Swede

Gunde Svan Gunde Anders Svan (born 12 January 1962) is a Swedish former cross-country skier and auto racing driver. During his cross-country skiing career he won a total of four gold, one silver and one bronze medals at the Winter Olympics. Svan won a total ...

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 The 2006 Winter Olympics (), officially the XX Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February in Turin, Italy. This marked the second time Italy had hosted the Winter O ...

though the 2006 event was a mass start event while the 1984 event was an interval start event. He won the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

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.Thomas Wassberg

Swedish Olympic Committee The Swedish Olympic Committee (SOC; (, SOK) is the Swedish National Olympic Committee (NOC). The Swedish Olympic Committee organize the Swedish participation in the Olympics, choose the participants and run a support program for swedish elite a ...

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. After retiring from competitions Wassberg worked as a sports reporter for

Swedish Radio Sveriges Radio AB (; "Sweden's Radio") is Sweden's national publicly funded radio broadcaster. Sveriges Radio is a public limited company, owned by an independent foundation, previously funded through a licensing fee, the level of which is dec ...

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. In the 2010s he oversaw the preparation of ski tracks for Åsarna IK, organized bird hunting events for tourists and worked as a forester.

Cross-country skiing results

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

Olympic Games

* 4 medals – (4 gold)

World Championships

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

World Cup

Season standings

Individual podiums

* 6 victories * 18 podiums

Team podiums

* 7 victories * 10 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.

References

External links

*
Holmenkollen medalists
– click Holmenkollmedaljen for downloadable pdf file
Holmenkollen winners since 1892
– click Vinnere for downloadable pdf file
Wassberg tar emot Bragdguldet – efter 33 år
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wassberg, Thomas 1956 births Living people People from Årjäng Municipality Cross-country skiers from Värmland County Cross-country skiers at the 1976 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 1980 Winter Olympics 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 Olympic medalists in cross-country skiing FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in cross-country skiing Medalists at the 1984 Winter Olympics Åsarna IK cross-country skiers Medalists at the 1988 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1980 Winter Olympics 20th-century Swedish sportsmen