The Norwegian "Ski King" Retires
Special Report by Jay Tegeder
March 31, 2001
Bjorn Daehlie competing at the
1995 World Championships
in Thunder Bay, Canada
(Photo by
Steve Crum)
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Bjorn Daehlie, the greatest cross country ski racer of his generation
and some say the best of all-time, has retired at age 33. He
announced his decision this week at a press conference in Norway.
After a two year struggle with back problems, he was finally
forced to end his magnificent World Cup career. Daehlie's meteoric
rise to the top of his trade began with both cross country and
nordic combined. Like Bill Koch in the 1970s, Daehlie made the
switch to full-time cross country at age 16. Never a star as
a junior, his success began when he was 21 with a World Cup
win in Utah in 1989. The first two seasons of his senior career,
were over-shadowed by his legendary team-mate, Vegard Ulvang.
However, Daehlie's first Gold Medal was the 15K Freestyle at
the 1991 Nordic World Championships in Val Di Femme, Italy.
He never looked back as he completely dominated the 1990s.
Besides his 1991 World Championships Gold Medal, Daehlie
scored victories in 1992 with Olympic 15K Freestyle Pursuit
and 50K Freestyle Gold, 1993 with World Championship 15K Freestyle
Pursuit Gold and 30K Classic Gold, 1994 Olympic 10K Classic
and 15K Freestyle Pursuit Gold, 1997 World Championship 10K
Classic and 15K Freestyle Pursuit Gold, 1998 Olympic 10K Classic
and 50K Freestyle Gold and Relay Gold in 1991, 1992, 1993,
1995, 1997 and 1998. His 48 World Cup wins are the most of
all-time. Plus, his five World Cup Overall Season Championship
trophies were equally impressive. Some other facts, his favorite
distance was 15 kilometers where he won or was on the podium
in every race he entered. A tall skier at six feet, Daehlie
skied with tremendously high turn-over. He didn't have the
text-book glide of his team-mate Thomas Alsgaard. Instead,
his tactic was to set a blistering pace and let the others
try to catch him.
Among his most memorable races was his 15K Freestyle Pursuit
duel with Vladimir Smirnov at the 1993 Nordic World Championships.
Smirnov started second and Daehlie went off from fourth position
in the Pursuit format. The two legendary skiers took turns
leading around the hilly Falun, Sweden course. At the line,
Daehlie grabbed the win by the length of a ski boot. His loss
to Silvio Fauner during the last leg of the 1994 Olympic Relay
was spectacular too. Once again, a ski boot determined the
outcome. Fauner won that battle as the Lillehammer crowd went
silent with the result. Daehlie often said his 1997 Nordic
World Championship 10K Classic win was the best race he ever
skied, however, some might argue his 50K Olympic Gold in 1998
was his greatest moment. Starting behind Sweden's Niklas Jonsson
and Austria's Christian Hoffmann, Daehlie spent all of his
energy catching and passing those skiers. Toward the end of
the race, Jonsson went around Daehlie and appeared to be headed
for the Gold. While Jonsson crossed the line first, Daehlie
dug down deep and held the gap under 30 seconds which is the
margin Jonsson started with. The Gold went to Daehlie as he
performed his trade-mark collapse after he crossed the finish
line.
As with all great skiers, Daehlie had others that pushed
him to such great heights. Among the greats of his generation
were Gunde Svan, the "Ski King" of the 1980s from Sweden,
Finland's "Mister Bronze", Harri Kirvesniemi and Mika Myllyla,
Kazakstan's Vladimir Smirnov and Daehlie's fellow country-men,
Vegard Ulvang and Thomas Alsgaard. Like Thomas Wassberg and
Gunde Svan who dominated the 1980s, Daehlie's domination of
the 1990s gave way to the next generation star, Sweden's Per
Elofsson who dominated the 2001 World Championships. Unlike
Wassberg, Svan, Smirnov and Ulvang, Daehlie's retirement was
not on his terms. The back he injured in a 1999 roller skiing
accident kept him out of the 1999-2000 and the 2000-2001 World
Cup seasons. He tried to return to form but was hampered by
pain during each attempt. According to Daehlie, his back only
bothered him when he trained or skied at race pace. While
not a problem for recreational skiing, the injury kept him
from his usual assault style World Cup technique.
His back operation was the same as the ones performed on
Vegard Ulvang and Thomas Alsgaard earlier. Ulvang had some
success after his surgery and Alsgaard has won Gold and continues
to ski impressively after his operation. However, Daehlie
was never able to recover fully. Some have speculated that
the double-poling technique used by the Norwegians might be
to blame. Their style involves a deep bend at the waist believed
to be hard on the back. In Daehlie's case, the roller-ski
crash precipitated the problem. Regardless, Bjorn Daehlie
leaves the sport as the greatest of all-time and with a fortune
rumored to be around twelve million dollars. His clothing
line, TV show with Vegard Ulvang and numerous endorsements
keep him very busy. As of now, the "Ski King" has an heir
apparent in Per Elofsson. The World Cup has missed Daehlie
the last two seasons but continues to thrive. Long live the
"King"!
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