Thomas Wassberg


Thomas Lars Wassberg 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.
Wassberg won four Olympic gold medals: in 15 km, 50 km, and the 4 × 10 km relay, and served as the Olympic flag bearer for Sweden in 1988. At the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, he earned three golds, three silvers, and one bronze. Additionally, Wassberg won the 50 km at the Holmenkollen ski festival three times and the 15 km twice.
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 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. 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.
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.
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. In the 2010s he oversaw the preparation of ski tracks for Åsarna IK, organized bird hunting events for tourists and worked as a forester.

Cross-country skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation.

Olympic Games

Season standings

Individual podiums

No.SeasonDateLocationRaceLevelPlace
11981–829 January 1982 Reit im Winkl, West Germany15 km IndividualWorld Cup3rd
21981–8216 January 1982 Le Brassus, Switzerland15 km IndividualWorld Cup2nd
31981–8227 February 1982 Oslo, Norway50 km IndividualWorld Championships1st
41981–8212 March 1982 Falun, Sweden30 km IndividualWorld Cup3rd
51981–8219 March 1982 Štrbské Pleso, Czechoslovakia15 km IndividualWorld Cup2nd
61982–8326 February 1983 Falun, Sweden30 km IndividualWorld Cup2nd
71982–8327 March 1983 Labrador City, Canada30 km IndividualWorld Cup3rd
81983–8419 February 1984 Sarajevo, Yugoslavia50 km IndividualOlympic Games1st
91983–8425 February 1984 Falun, Sweden30 km IndividualWorld Cup2nd
101983–842 March 1984 Lahti, Finland15 km IndividualWorld Cup2nd
111984–8522 January 1985 Seefeld, Austria15 km IndividualWorld Championships2nd
121984–859 March 1985 Falun, Sweden30 km IndividualWorld Cup3rd
131984–8514 March 1985 Oslo, Norway15 km IndividualWorld Cup1st
141985–868 March 1986 Falun, Sweden30 km Individual CWorld Cup1st
151986–8712 February 1987 Oberstdorf, West Germany30 km Individual CWorld Championships1st
161986–8715 February 1987 Oberstdorf, West Germany15 km Individual CWorld Championships2nd
171986–8721 February 1987 Oberstdorf, West Germany50 km Individual FWorld Championships2nd
181986–8721 March 1987 Oslo, Norway50 km Individual CWorld Cup1st

Team podiums

No.SeasonDateLocationRaceLevelPlaceTeammates
11983–8416 February 1984 Sarajevo, Yugoslavia4 × 10 km RelayOlympic Games1stKohlberg / Ottosson / Svan
21983–8426 February 1984 Falun, Sweden4 × 10 km RelayWorld Cup1stÖstlund / Ottosson / Svan
3 1984–85 24 January 1985 Seefeld, Austria4 × 10 km RelayWorld Championships3rdÖstlund / Eriksson / Svan
4 1984–85 10 March 1985 Falun, Sweden4 × 10 km RelayWorld Cup2ndÖstlund / Mogren / Svan
5 1984–85 17 March 1985 Oslo, Norway4 × 10 km RelayWorld Cup1stEriksson / Danielsson / Svan
6 1985–86 13 March 1986 Oslo, Norway4 × 10 km Relay FWorld Cup3rdMajbäck / Håland / Danielsson
71986–8717 February 1987 Oberstdorf, West Germany4 × 10 km Relay FWorld Championships1stÖstlund / Svan / Mogren
81986–878 March 1987 Falun, Sweden4 × 10 km Relay CWorld Cup1stÖstlund / Mogren / Majbäck
91986–8719 March 1987 Oslo, Norway4 × 10 km Relay CWorld Cup1stOttosson / Mogren / Eriksson
101987–8824 February 1988 Calgary, Canada4 × 10 km Relay FOlympic Games1stOttosson / Svan / Mogren

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