Sven Tomas Gustafson (born 28 December 1959) is a retired Swedish

speed skater Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors racing, race each other in travelling a certain distance on Ice skate, skates. Types of speed skating are long-track speed skating, short-track speed skating, and marath ...

, and one of the most successful distance skaters of the 1980s.

Early career

Born in

Katrineholm Katrineholm (pronunciation: or ) is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Katrineholm Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden with 24,271 inhabitants in 2018. It is located in the inland of Södermanland and is the third largest ur ...

, he won the World Junior Championships title in

Grenoble Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, in 1979. A year later, at the European Championships for seniors, he finished 4th. The following month, he participated in 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 ...

Lake Placid, New York Lake Placid is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York, Essex County, New York (state), New York, United States. In 2020, its population was 2,205. The village of Lake Placid ...

, achieving a 7th place finish in the 1500 m as his best performance. Later that same month, he defended his Junior World title.

1982 to Sarajevo leadup

In 1982, he became allround European Champion in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

, where he set a 10,000 m

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 ...

. This is the last outdoor world record for men on a lowland track. For this performance, he was awarded the

Oscar Mathisen Award Beginning in 1959 the Oscar Mathisen Award (also known as the Oscar Mathisen Memorial Award, the Oscar Mathisen Memorial Trophy, and sometimes the Skating Oscar) has been awarded annually to the skater with the most outstanding speed skating perform ...

, recognizing the best skating performance of the season. A year later, on the same track, he won silver at the World Allround Championships, finishing second behind

Rolf Falk-Larssen Rolf Falk-Larssen (born 21 February 1960) is a former speed skater. __NOTOC__ Representing Trondhjems Skøiteklub, Rolf Falk-Larssen made his international debut at the European Allround Championships of 1982 and he was in the lead after three ...

. Gustafson had the better allround point sum (''

samalog Samalog (or samalogue in UK spelling; sometimes sammenlagt in both Norwegian and Danish: "put together", "total sum") is a scoring system in speed skating. It is used in allround tournaments to convert results at various distances into points in ...

''), but Falk-Larssen was declared champion due to a rule stating that a skater winning three distances, and merely finishing the fourth, was automatically pronounced the champion. This result caused a renewed debate about the three-distance-wins rule, which was subsequently abolished. From 1984 onwards, the champion was determined by the skater with the best allround point sum.

Sarajevo to Calgary leadup

The following year, his focus shifted from the World Allround Championships to 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 ...

. He won Olympic gold in the 5,000 m, finishing just two hundredths of a second ahead of Soviet skater

Igor Malkov Igor Alekseyevich Malkov (; born 9 February 1965 in Pervouralsk, Soviet Union) is a former speedskater. Igor Malkov trained at VSS Trud in Sverdlovsk. Skating for the USSR, he became Olympic 10,000 m Champion at the 1984 Olympic Games in ...

. In the 10,000 m, he again faced a close finish with Malkov, this time losing by five hundredths of a second. Following these Olympics, Gustafson faced challenges including knee surgery,

meningitis Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, intense headache, vomiting and neck stiffness and occasion ...

, and the death of his father.

Calgary glory

By the Olympic year 1988, he had regained his form. In January, he won the European Allround Championships in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

, winning all four distances, an achievement unmatched in post-war speedskating. With his rival Malkov retired, Gustafson focused on outpacing long-distance skaters like Dutchmen

Leo Visser Leendert "Leo" Visser (born 13 January 1966) is a Dutch former speed skater, who in 1989 won the World Allround championships and European championships. At the 1988 Olympics in Calgary he won a silver medal in the 5000 m and a bronze medal in ...

and

Gerard Kemkers Gerard Kemkers (born 8 March 1967) is a former speed skater from the Netherlands, who represented his native country at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada. There he won the bronze medal in the 5000 metres. Kemkers retired from internati ...

and Austrian skater

Michael Hadschieff Michael Florian Hadschieff (born 5 October 1963) is a former speed skater from Austria. Biography At the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Michael Hadschieff participated in all five distances (500 m - 1,000 m - 1,500 m - 5,000&nbs ...

. Gustafson first succeeded in the 5000 m. He trailed Leo Visser's pace by eight hundredths of a second with only 400 m remaining but skated a strong final lap to win by one third of a second. Four days later, he won Olympic gold again, this time in the 10,000 m, setting a new world record time of 13:48.20. This record stood for three years before being broken by

Johann Olav Koss Johann Olav Koss (born 29 October 1968) is a former speed skater from Norway. He won four Olympic gold medals, including three at the 1994 Winter Olympics in his home country. Biography Johann Olav Koss was born in Drammen, Buskerud County, No ...

. Gustafson received the Oscar Mathisen Award again for his 1988 performances. He also 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 the

Jerring Award The Jerring Award ( or "Radiosportens Jerringpris") is a prize established by Radiosporten (the sport section of Sveriges Radio) and voted by its radio audience who choose the best performing Swedish athlete or team of the year. The prize is named ...

Late career

Gustafson's only notable achievement after 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 ...

in Calgary was a second-place finish behind

Bart Veldkamp Bart Veldkamp (; born 22 November 1967) is a retired Speed skating, speed skater, who represented the Netherlands and later Belgium in international competitions, including the Winter Olympics. He currently is the national speed skating coach of ...

in the 1990 European Allround Championships. At the

1992 Winter Olympics The 1992 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVI Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Albertville '92 (Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Arbèrtvile '92''), were a winter multi-sport event held from 8 to 23 February 1992 in and aroun ...

Albertville Albertville (; Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Arbèrtvile'') is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Savoie Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region in Southeastern France. It is best k ...

, he only participated in the 5000 m, finishing 13th. This marked Gustafson's last international race.

Personal life

Gustafson is married to curler

Elisabet Gustafson Karin Elisabet Gustafson (born 2 May 1964) is a retired Sweden, Swedish Curling, curler, world champion and Olympic medalist. She has won four World Championships. Career Gustafson made her debut onto the world stage at the 1985 European Junior ...

Records

World records

Gustafson set two

world records 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 ...

: Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com

Personal records

Gustafson holds an Adelskalender score of 157.701 points. In March 1988, he reached third place in the ranking, behind

Eric Flaim Eric Joseph Flaim (born March 9, 1967) is an American former speed skater. He became a world champion in 1988, as well as capturing Olympic silver medals, namely in speed skating at the 1988 Winter Olympics and in short track speed skating a ...

and

. After improving his personal best time in the 1500 metres distance in December 1990, he reached second place. Gustafson was ranked among the top 3 for 1468 days.

References

Tomas Gustafson at SpeedSkatingStats.comOfficial website of the Olympic Movement
*Tomas Gustafson (1994) ''Mål, vilja och seger'' Sportförlaget

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gustafson, Tomas 1959 births Living people Sportspeople from Katrineholm Swedish male speed skaters Olympic speed skaters for Sweden Speed skaters at the 1980 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 1984 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 1988 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 1992 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Sweden Olympic silver medalists for Sweden World record setters in speed skating Olympic medalists in speed skating Medalists at the 1984 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1988 Winter Olympics World Allround Speed Skating Championships medalists 20th-century Swedish sportsmen