Björn Ferry

Björn Ferry (born 1 August 1978 in Stensele, Storuman, Västerbotten) is a former Swedish biathlete and medal winning Olympian. He began competing internationally in World Cup competitions in 2001, but did not win his first international race until the 2007–2008 season. In 2007, he won gold in the mixed relay event at the Biathlon World Championships. The next year, at his third Winter Olympics appearance, he won the gold medal in the pursuit event. He started the event in 8th place as determined by the previous sprint event, but managed to overtake the race leader on the final lap.

Björn Ferry

Björn Ferry during World Cup competitions in Pokljuka, Slovenia in March 2014.
Personal information
Full name	Björn Ferry
Born	(1978-08-01) 1 August 1978 (age 46) Stensele, Sweden
Height	1.94 m (6 ft 4 in)
Website	bjornferry.com
Professional information
Sport	Biathlon
World Cup debut	6 December 2001
Retired	23 March 2014
Olympic Games
Teams	4 (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014)
Medals	1 (1 gold)
World Championships
Teams	11 (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013)
Medals	3 (1 gold)
World Cup
Seasons	13 (2001/02–2013/14)
Individual victories	7
All victories	9
Individual podiums	22
All podiums	31
Medal record Men's biathlon Representing  Sweden International biathlon competitions Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 1 0 0 World Championships 1 1 1 Total 2 1 1 Olympic Games 2010 Vancouver 12.5 km pursuit World Championships 2007 Antholz-Anterselva Mixed relay 2012 Rupholding 15 km mass start 2010 Khanty-Mansiysk Mixed relay

Career

Ferry debuted in the World Cup in Hochfilzen in 2001, and earned his first World Cup points after only skiing three races. He finished his first season ranked 36th in World Cup standings. In World Cup competition, he slowly improved his ranking, and by the 2006–2007 season was ranked in the top ten worldwide. His first Olympic appearance, at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, was disappointing, but four years later at the 2006 Games in Turin, Italy he was a member of a Swedish relay team that placed fourth, just off the medal stand.^[1]

Ferry has seen some of his strongest efforts and best finishes in Italy, even beyond the 2006 success. His first two World Cup victories both came in the pursuit in Antholz-Anterselva, in the 2007–2008 and 2008–2009 seasons. In 2007, he won a gold medal in the mixed relay in the 2007 World Championships alongside Helena Jonsson, Anna Carin Olofsson, and Carl Johan Bergman. Although his 2009–2010 season was lackluster, and Ferry saw his ranking drop from 9th to 16th place in the World Cup, Ferry was again selected for the Swedish team for the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In the pursuit event held on February 16, Ferry finished in first place, winning the gold medal after catching and passing the race leader on the final lap of the race.^[1] He beat second-place finisher Christoph Sumann of Austria by only 16.5 seconds. The victory marked the first Olympic biathlon gold for a Swedish athlete in a half-century.^[2]

Ferry practices with the Storuman IK club. His personal coach was German Wolfgang Pichler^[1] until Pichler left his role as coach of the Swedish biathlon team in 2010. He subsequently described the atmosphere in the team under Pichler as being like a cult, although he praised Pichler for the energy he brought to the role.^[3]

In March 2014, Ferry confirmed that he would be retiring from the sport at the end of the 2013–14 season.^[4]

Opposition to doping

Ferry has been outspoken in his opposition to the use of banned substances by athletes who participate in international competition, a practice known as doping. In 2009, he was quoted referring to Russian athletes who had used such substances as 'idiots' and received a number of death threats.^{[citation needed]} During the 2010 winter Olympics, he was quoted saying he would not mind if athletes who use banned substances would get the death penalty or, "at least lots of kicks in the balls."^[5][6] Further comments referred to dopers as people with low moral standards and suggested that the problem of use of banned substances in sport would not go away until more severe penalties were imposed.

Personal life

Ferry is married to arm wrestler Heidi Andersson, who has won multiple world championships in arm wrestling.^[2][7] In November 2017, he announced he'd given up flying because of the environment.^[8]

In March and April 2018, SVT aired programme series Storuman Forever, depicting the Heidi Andersson and Björn Ferry couple's climate engagement.^[9][10]

Flygskam, translating as ‘Flight Shame’, or ‘Flight Conscience’, a social pressure not to fly because of the rising greenhouse gas emissions of the airline industry, was originally championed by Björn Ferry but has since gained considerable momentum after Greta Thunberg’s refusal to fly on environmental grounds. Sweden has reported a 4% drop in domestic travel for 2019 and a 9% increase in rail use. The BBC claims that the movement could halve the growth of global air travel, but Airbus and Boeing claim that it will continue to grow at around 4% until 2035.^[11][12]

Biathlon results

All results are sourced from the International Biathlon Union.^[1]

Olympic Games

1 medal (1 gold)

Event	Individual	Sprint	Pursuit	Mass start	Relay	Mixed relay
2002 Salt Lake City	38th	17th	24th	—	14th	—
2006 Turin	28th	13th	25th	18th	4th	—
2010 Vancouver	42nd	8th	Gold	12th	4th	—
2014 Sochi	12th	25th	30th	12th	10th	—

*Mass start was added as an event in 2006, with the mixed relay being added in 2014.

World Championships

3 medals (1 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze)

Event	Individual	Sprint	Pursuit	Mass start	Relay	Mixed relay
2002 Oslo Holmenkollen	—	—	—	28th	—	—
2003 Khanty-Mansiysk	32nd	43rd	36th	—	7th	—
2004 Oberhof	31st	DNF	—	—	6th	—
2005 Hochfilzen	52nd	17th	16th	18th	7th	13th
2007 Antholz-Anterselva	14th	4th	22nd	15th	7th	Gold
2008 Östersund	27th	15th	18th	9th	6th	4th
2009 Pyeongchang	—	40th	31st	—	9th	—
2010 Khanty-Mansiysk	—	—	—	—	—	Bronze
2011 Khanty-Mansiysk	5th	23rd	10th	27th	4th	4th
2012 Ruhpolding	48th	7th	11th	Silver	16th	4th
2013 Nové Město	5th	13th	9th	8th	11th	14th

*During Olympic seasons competitions are only held for those events not included in the Olympic program.

**The mixed relay was added as an event in 2005.

Individual victories

7 victories (2 Sp, 4 Pu, 1 MS)

Season	Date	Location	Discipline	Level
2007–08 1 victory (1 Pu)	19 January 2008	Antholz-Anterselva	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Cup
2008–09 1 victory (1 Pu)	24 January 2009	Antholz-Anterselva	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Cup
2009–10 1 victory (1 Pu)	16 February 2010	Vancouver	12.5 km pursuit	Winter Olympic Games
2010–11 2 victories (1 Sp, 1 Pu)	18 December 2010	Pokljuka	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
	16 January 2011	Ruhpolding	12.5 km pursuit	Biathlon World Cup
2013–14 2 victories (1 Sp, 1 MS)	6 March 2014	Pokljuka	10 km sprint	Biathlon World Cup
	9 March 2014	Pokljuka	15 km mass start	Biathlon World Cup

*Results are from UIPMB and IBU races which include the Biathlon World Cup, Biathlon World Championships and the Winter Olympic Games.

Cross-country skiing results

World Cup career
Seasons	2000–2001
Starts	5
Podiums	0
Overall titles	0
Discipline titles	0

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).^[13]

World Cup

Season standings

Season	Age	Season standings
		Overall	Long Distance	Middle Distance	Sprint
2000	22	NC	NC	NC	—
2001	23	NC	—	—	—

References

1. "Björn Ferry". IBU Datacenter. International Biathlon Union. Archived from the original on 6 February 2010. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
2. Agence France-Presse (2010-02-16). "Biathlon (Sprint): Sweden's Ferry wins men's 12.5km pursuit". Vancouver 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-02-17. Retrieved 2010-02-17.
3. Sundqvist, Lena; Antonsson, John (11 August 2010). "Ferry: "Det var som en sekt"" [Ferry: "It was like a cult"]. Sveriges Radio (in Swedish).
4. "Biathlon world to see some retirements after season's end". biathlon-pokljuka.com. 8 March 2014. Archived from the original on 17 March 2014. Retrieved 16 March 2014.
5. "Swedish Biathlon Star Bjorn Ferry on Doping: "Drug cheats should get the death penalty!"". Bild.com. 2010-02-15. Retrieved 2010-02-17.
6. [Original Swedish: "För mig får det gärna bli dödsstraff eller alla fall en upprepad pungspark för alla dopningsbrott", translated: "For me it's ok if it would be death penalty or at least a repeated kick on the balls for all doping crimes"]
7. Ferry, Björn. "Björnfakta" (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 2010-02-20. Retrieved 2010-02-17.
8. Robert Börjesson (21 November 2017). "Björn Ferry nobbar OS i Sydkorea för klimatet" (in Swedish). Expressen. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
9. "SVT1 2018-03-20" (in Swedish). Swedish Media Database. 20 March 2018. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
10. "SVT1 2018-04-17" (in Swedish). Swedish Media Database. 17 April 2018. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
11. Timperley, Jocelyn. "Why 'flight shame' is making people swap planes for trains". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 2020-01-13.
12. "Sweden's Flight Shame Is Having A Turbulent Effect On P... | 10 daily". 10daily.com.au. Retrieved 2020-01-13.
13. "FERRY Bjoern". FIS-Ski. International Ski Federation. Retrieved 7 December 2019.

External links

• Björn Ferry at IBU BiathlonWorld.com
• Björn Ferry at IBU BiathlonResults.com
• 2001 interview with Björn Ferry (in Swedish)