Thomas Wassberg

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.^[1]

Thomas Wassberg
Thomas Wassberg in December 2013
Country	Sweden
Full name	Lars Thomas Wassberg
Born	(1956-03-27) 27 March 1956 (age 68) Årjäng, Sweden
Height	185 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Ski club	Åsarna IK
World Cup career
Seasons	7 – (1982–1988)
Indiv. starts	44
Indiv. podiums	18
Indiv. wins	6
Team starts	11
Team podiums	10
Team wins	7
Overall titles	0 – (2nd in 1982, 1984, 1987)
Medal record Men's cross-country skiing Representing  Sweden International nordic ski competitions Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 4 0 0 World Championships 3 3 1 Total 7 3 1 Olympic Games 1980 Lake Placid 15 km 1984 Sarajevo 50 km 1984 Sarajevo 4 × 10 km relay 1988 Calgary 4 × 10 km relay World Championships 1982 Oslo 50 km 1987 Oberstdorf 30 km classical 1987 Oberstdorf 4 × 10 km relay 1985 Seefeld 15 km 1987 Oberstdorf 15 km classical 1987 Oberstdorf 50 km freestyle 1985 Seefeld 4 × 10 km relay

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.^[2] At the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, 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 three times (1980, 1982 and 1987) and the 15 km twice (1979, 1985).^[3]

At the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, Wassberg edged out Finland'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 (FIS) to change their timing to the nearest one-tenth of a second. It also resulted in an apocryphal urban legend that Wassberg and Mieto's medals were cut in half and re-welded into half-gold, half-silver medals.^[4] At the 1984 Winter Olympics, Wassberg beat out fellow Swede Gunde Svan 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 though the 2006 event was a mass start event while the 1984 event was an interval start event.

He won the World Cup 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.^[3][5]

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.^[6]

After retiring from competitions Wassberg worked as a sports reporter for Swedish Radio 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.^[7] In the 2010s he oversaw the preparation of ski tracks for Åsarna IK, organized bird hunting events for tourists and worked as a forester.^[3]

Cross-country skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).^[8]

Olympic Games

• 4 medals – (4 gold)

Year	Age	15 km	30 km	50 km	4 × 10 km   relay
1976	19	15	—	—	4
1980	23	Gold	4	—	5
1984	27	—	14	Gold	Gold
1988	31	—	42	DNF	Gold

World Championships

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

Year	Age	15 km	30 km	50 km	4 × 10 km   relay
1982	25	18	16	Gold	5
1985	28	Silver	4	—	Bronze
1987	30	Silver	Gold	Silver	Gold

World Cup

Season standings

Season	Age	Overall
1982	25
1983	26	5
1984	27
1985	28
1986	29	15
1987	30
1988	31	19

Individual podiums

• 6 victories
• 18 podiums

No.	Season	Date	Location	Race	Level	Place
1	1981–82	9 January 1982	Reit im Winkl, West Germany	15 km Individual	World Cup	3rd
2		16 January 1982	Le Brassus, Switzerland	15 km Individual	World Cup	2nd
3		27 February 1982	Oslo, Norway	50 km Individual	World Championships[1]	1st
4		12 March 1982	Falun, Sweden	30 km Individual	World Cup	3rd
5		19 March 1982	Štrbské Pleso, Czechoslovakia	15 km Individual	World Cup	2nd
6	1982–83	26 February 1983	Falun, Sweden	30 km Individual	World Cup	2nd
7		27 March 1983	Labrador City, Canada	30 km Individual	World Cup	3rd
8	1983–84	19 February 1984	Sarajevo, Yugoslavia	50 km Individual	Olympic Games[1]	1st
9		25 February 1984	Falun, Sweden	30 km Individual	World Cup	2nd
10		2 March 1984	Lahti, Finland	15 km Individual	World Cup	2nd
11	1984–85	22 January 1985	Seefeld, Austria	15 km Individual	World Championships[1]	2nd
12		9 March 1985	Falun, Sweden	30 km Individual	World Cup	3rd
13		14 March 1985	Oslo, Norway	15 km Individual	World Cup	1st
14	1985–86	8 March 1986	Falun, Sweden	30 km Individual C	World Cup	1st
15	1986–87	12 February 1987	Oberstdorf, West Germany	30 km Individual C	World Championships[1]	1st
16		15 February 1987		15 km Individual C	World Championships[1]	2nd
17		21 February 1987		50 km Individual F	World Championships[1]	2nd
18		21 March 1987	Oslo, Norway	50 km Individual C	World Cup	1st

Team podiums

• 7 victories
• 10 podiums

No.	Season	Date	Location	Race	Level	Place	Teammates
1	1983–84	16 February 1984	Sarajevo, Yugoslavia	4 × 10 km Relay	Olympic Games[1]	1st	Kohlberg / Ottosson / Svan
2		26 February 1984	Falun, Sweden	4 × 10 km Relay	World Cup	1st	Östlund / Ottosson / Svan
3	1984–85	24 January 1985	Seefeld, Austria	4 × 10 km Relay	World Championships[1]	3rd	Östlund / Eriksson / Svan
4		10 March 1985	Falun, Sweden	4 × 10 km Relay	World Cup	2nd	Östlund / Mogren / Svan
5		17 March 1985	Oslo, Norway	4 × 10 km Relay	World Cup	1st	Eriksson / Danielsson / Svan
6	1985–86	13 March 1986	Oslo, Norway	4 × 10 km Relay F	World Cup	3rd	Majbäck / Håland / Danielsson
7	1986–87	17 February 1987	Oberstdorf, West Germany	4 × 10 km Relay F	World Championships[1]	1st	Östlund / Svan / Mogren
8		8 March 1987	Falun, Sweden	4 × 10 km Relay C	World Cup	1st	Östlund / Mogren / Majbäck
9		19 March 1987	Oslo, Norway	4 × 10 km Relay C	World Cup	1st	Ottosson / Mogren / Eriksson
10	1987–88	24 February 1988	Calgary, Canada	4 × 10 km Relay F	Olympic Games[1]	1st	Ottosson / Svan / Mogren

Note: ¹ Until the 1999 World Championships and the 1994 Winter Olympics, World Championship and Olympic races were included in the World Cup scoring system.

References

1. "Cross Country Legend Thomas Wassberg (SWE) in Interview". Fischer Sports. 14 November 2014. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
2. Sweden. sports-reference.com
3. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Thomas Wassberg". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020.
4. Perman, Cindy (2013). New York Curiosities, 2nd: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 151. ISBN 9780762774968.
5. Thomas Wassberg. Swedish Olympic Committee
6. Bengt Erik Bengtsson (2010). "Cross country skating: how it started". Retrieved 27 March 2016.
7. "Deltagare i Let's dance – tv4.se". tv4.se. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
8. "WASSBERG Thomas". FIS-Ski. International Ski Federation. Retrieved 14 January 2020.

External links

• Thomas Wassberg at the International Ski and Snowboard Federation
• Holmenkollen medalists – click Holmenkollmedaljen for downloadable pdf file (in Norwegian)
• Holmenkollen winners since 1892 – click Vinnere for downloadable pdf file (in Norwegian)
• Wassberg tar emot Bragdguldet – efter 33 år
• Thomas Wassberg at Olympedia (archive)
• Thomas Wassberg at Olympics.com
• Thomas Wassberg at the Sveriges Olympiska Kommitté (in Swedish) (English translation)

Preceded by Malmö FF	Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal 1980	Succeeded by Annichen Kringstad