Thomas Wassberg

Thomas Wassberg
Wassberg in 2013
Full name Lars Thomas Wassberg
Born (1956-03-27) 27 March 1956
Lennartsfors, Värmland, Sweden
Height 185 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Ski club Åsarna IK
World Cup career
Seasons 1977–1988
Individual wins 6
Team wins 7
Indiv. podiums 18
Team podiums 10
Discipline titles 1 (1976/77)

Thomas Lars 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]

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: 1987), three silvers (15 km: 1985, 1987; 50 km (1987), and one bronze (4×10 km: 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 skiing 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]

World Cup results

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

Individual podiums

  • 6 victories
  • 18 podiums
No. Season Date Location Race Level Place
11981–829 January 1982West Germany Reit im Winkl, West Germany15 km IndividualWorld Cup3rd
216 January 1982Switzerland Le Brassus, Switzerland15 km IndividualWorld Cup2nd
327 February 1982Norway Oslo, Norway50 km IndividualWorld Championships[1]1st
412 March 1982Sweden Falun, Sweden30 km IndividualWorld Cup3rd
519 March 1982Czechoslovak Socialist Republic Štrbské Pleso, Czechoslovakia15 km IndividualWorld Cup2nd
61982–8326 February 1983Sweden Falun, Sweden30 km IndividualWorld Cup2nd
727 March 1983Canada Labrador City, Canada30 km IndividualWorld Cup3rd
81983–8419 February 1984Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Sarajevo, Yugoslavia50 km IndividualOlympic Games[1]1st
925 February 1984Sweden Falun, Sweden30 km IndividualWorld Cup2nd
102 March 1984Finland Lahti, Finland15 km IndividualWorld Cup2nd
111984–8522 January 1985Austria Seefeld, Austria15 km IndividualWorld Championships[1]2nd
129 March 1985Sweden Falun, Sweden30 km IndividualWorld Cup3rd
1314 March 1985Norway Oslo, Norway15 km IndividualWorld Cup1st
141985–868 March 1986Sweden Falun, Sweden30 km Individual CWorld Cup1st
151986–8712 February 1987West Germany Oberstdorf, West Germany30 km Individual CWorld Championships[1]1st
1615 February 1987West Germany Oberstdorf, West Germany15 km Individual CWorld Championships[1]2nd
1721 February 1987West Germany Oberstdorf, West Germany50 km Individual FWorld Championships[1]2nd
1821 March 1987Norway Oslo, Norway50 km Individual CWorld Cup1st

Team podiums

  • 7 victories
  • 10 podiums
No. Season Date Location Race Level Place Teammate(s)
11983–8416 February 1984Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Sarajevo, Yugoslavia4 x 10 km RelayOlympic Games[1]1stKohlberg / Ottosson / Svan
226 February 1984Sweden Falun, Sweden4 x 10 km RelayWorld Cup1stÖstlund / Ottosson / Svan
3 1984–85 24 January 1985Austria Seefeld, Austria4 x 10 km RelayWorld Championships[1]3rdÖstlund / Eriksson / Svan
410 March 1985Sweden Falun, Sweden4 x 10 km RelayWorld Cup2ndÖstlund / Mogren / Svan
517 March 1985Norway Oslo, Norway4 x 10 km RelayWorld Cup1stEriksson / Danielsson / Svan
6 1985–86 13 March 1986Norway Oslo, Norway4 x 10 km Relay FWorld Cup3rdMajbäck / Håland / Danielsson
71986–8717 February 1987West Germany Oberstdorf, West Germany4 x 10 km Relay FWorld Championships[1]1stÖstlund / Svan / Mogren
88 March 1987Sweden Falun, Sweden4 x 10 km Relay CWorld Cup1stÖstlund / Mogren / Majbäck
919 March 1987Norway Oslo, Norway4 x 10 km Relay CWorld Cup1stOttosson / Mogren / Eriksson
101987–8824 February 1988Canada Calgary, Canada4 x 10 km Relay FOlympic Games[1]1stOttosson / 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. 1 2 3 Thomas Wassberg. sports-reference.com
  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. ↑ "Athlete : WASSBERG Thomas". FIS-Ski. International Ski Federation. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
Preceded by
Malmö FF		 Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal
1980		 Succeeded by
Annichen Kringstad
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