Norway at the 2006 Winter Olympics explained

Noc:	NOR
Nocname:	Norwegian Olympic Committee and Confederation of Sports
Games:	Winter Olympics
Year:	2006
Website:
Location:	Turin
Competitors:	69 (47 men, 22 women)
Sports:	10
Flagbearer:	Pål Trulsen (opening) Frode Estil (closing)^[1] ^[2]
Rank:	13
Gold:	2
Silver:	8
Bronze:	9
Appearances:	auto
See also:	1906 Intercalated Games

Norway sent 74 athletes to the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. At the 2002 Winter Olympics Norway won the most gold medals, and before the Turin games, Norwegian sports officials were aiming for more than the 25 medals they won in Salt Lake City - the president of the Norwegian Skiing Federation Sverre Seeberg was quoted saying he thought Norway would win 25 medals in the skiing events alone (alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, freestyle skiing, Nordic combined and ski jumping).^[3] The Norwegian Olympic Committee aimed for Norway to be the best nation measured in the number of gold medals. However, Norway won only two gold medals in the games, the lowest amount since 1988.

In addition to the skiing events, Norway also qualified athletes in biathlon, curling, skeleton, snowboarding and speed skating. In addition to IOC qualifying times, the Norwegian Olympic Committee have required that athletes need to place themselves once in the top six or twice in the top twelve in major individual events in the sport to be selected.^[4] Curler Pål Trulsen served as flag bearer at the opening ceremony.

Medalists

|width="70%" align="left" valign="top"|

Medal	Name	Sport	Event
			Men's super-G
			Normal hill
			Men's sprint
			Men's pursuit
			Men's individual
			Men's 30 km pursuit
			Women's 10 km classical
			Men's team sprint
			Women's moguls
			Sprint
			Men's sprint
			Men's mass start
			Men's individual
			Women's 10 km classical
			Individual
			Normal hill
			Large hill
			Team
			Women's halfpipe

|width="30%" align="left" valign="top"|

Medals by sport
Sport				Total
	1	0	3	4
Alpine skiing	1	0	0	1
	0	3	3	6
Cross-country skiing	0	3	1	4
Nordic combined	0	1	1	2
	0	1	0	1
Snowboarding	0	0	1	1
bgcolor=#efefef align="left"	Total	2	8	9	19

Alpine skiing

See main article: Alpine skiing at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Athlete	Event	Final
		Run 1	Run 2	Run 3	Total	Rank
Kjetil André Aamodt	Men's downhill	n/a	1:49.88	4
	Men's super-G	n/a	1:30.65
	Men's combined	did not start
Hans-Petter Buraas	Men's slalom	did not finish
Kjetil Jansrud	Men's giant slalom	1:19.32	did not start
	Men's combined	1:41.55	46.02	44.75	3:12.32	10
Lasse Kjus	Men's downhill	n/a	1:50.64	14
	Men's super-G	n/a	1:31.79	14
	Men's giant slalom	1:18.73	1:20.58	n/a	2:39.31	18
	Men's combined	1:39.63	did not finish
Lars Myhre	Men's slalom	did not finish
Bjarne Solbakken	Men's downhill	n/a	1:51.72	29
	Men's super-G	n/a	1:32.90	26
	Men's giant slalom	1:19.15	1:20.46	n/a	2:39.61	20
Aksel Lund Svindal	Men's downhill	n/a	1:50.90	21
	Men's super-G	n/a	1:31.10	5
	Men's giant slalom	1:17.10	1:18.96	n/a	2:36.06	6
	Men's slalom	54.97	did not finish
	Men's combined	1:39.26	did not finish

Note: In the men's combined, run 1 is the downhill, and runs 2 and 3 are the slalom. In the women's combined, run 1 and 2 are the slalom, and run 3 the downhill.

Biathlon

See main article: Biathlon at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Men

Athlete	Event	Final
		Time	Misses	Rank
Frode Andresen	Sprint	26:31.3	1
	Pursuit	36:16.97	6	6
	Mass start	49:03.6	6	19
	Individual	57:10.2	3	15
Ole Einar Bjørndalen	Sprint	27:25.5	3	11
	Pursuit	35:22.96	6
	Mass start	47:32.3	3
	Individual	54:39.0	2
Stian Eckhoff	Sprint	27:48.0	2	16
	Pursuit	38:00.28	6	21
	Individual	57:11.8	3	16
Halvard Hanevold	Sprint	26:19.8	0
	Pursuit	35:57.74	3	5
	Mass start	48:14.9	3	7
	Individual	55:31.9	2
Emil Hegle Svendsen	Mass start	48:13.8	2	6
Halvard Hanevold Stian Eckhoff Frode Andresen Ole Einar Bjørndalen	Relay	1:23:03.6	11	5

Women

Athlete	Event	Final
		Time	Misses	Rank
Gunn Margit Andreassen	Individual	59:04.3	6	60
Tora Berger	Sprint	24:05.8	1	23
	Pursuit	40:44.82	3	18
	Mass start	45:23.2	3	25
	Individual	52:53.4	2	13
Gro Marit Istad Kristiansen	Sprint	24:34.0	1	40
	Pursuit	43:41.59	7	40
Liv Grete Skjelbreid Poirée	Sprint	23:20.0	2	12
	Pursuit	39:03.43	4	6
	Mass start	43:43.8	4	18
	Individual	52:22.0	3	9
Linda Grubben	Sprint	23:48.5	1	19
	Pursuit	40:19.89	4	15
	Mass start	42:46.5	3	14
	Individual	56:47.8	6	50
Tora Berger Liv Grete Skjelbreid Poirée Gunn Margit Andreassen Linda Grubben	Relay	1:19:34.4	14	5

Cross-country skiing

See main article: Cross-country skiing at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

On 9 January the selection of four male athletes for the sprint event was made public.^[5] Following the conclusion of the individual events at the 2006 Norwegian Championships, a further thirteen skiers were selected.^[6]

The Norwegian director of cross-country skiing sport, Bjørnar Håkensmoen, received "terribly many" reactions after he announced the team on 21 January, and the following day the newspaper Aftenposten asked him whether he "regretted" not selecting Petter Northug, who had won both the double pursuit and the relay (as part of a team representing Strindheim IL) at the Norwegian Skiing Championship.^[7]

Distance

Men

Athlete	Event	Final
		Total	Rank
Jan Egil Andresen	30 km pursuit	1:19:29.8	27
	50 km freestyle	2:08:43.7	41
Anders Aukland	15 km classical	39:53.6	20
	30 km pursuit	1:19:30.6	28
Frode Estil	15 km classical	39:39.6	16
	30 km pursuit	1:17:01.4
	50 km freestyle	2:07:06.1	28
Tord Asle Gjerdalen	30 km pursuit	1:17:36.2	18
	50 km freestyle	2:06:26.2	15
Tor Arne Hetland	50 km freestyle	2:07:36.2	33
Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset	15 km classical	40:31.3	28
Jens Arne Svartedal	15 km classical	41:32.4	45
Jens Arne Svartedal Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset Frode Estil Tore Ruud Hofstad	4 x 10 km relay	1:44:56.3	5

Women

Athlete	Event	Final
		Total	Rank
Marit Bjørgen	10 km classical	28:12.7
	15 km pursuit	Did not finish
Ella Gjømle	30 km freestyle	1:28:28.2	29
Hilde Gjermundshaug Pedersen	10 km classical	28:14.0
	15 km pursuit	43:40.5	10
Kristin Størmer Steira	10 km classical	28:21.0	4
	15 km pursuit	43:06.8	4
	30 km freestyle	1:22:40.8	4
Kristin Mürer Stemland	10 km classical	29:20.5	12
	15 km pursuit	44:59.2	19
	30 km freestyle	1:27:05.9	24
Kristin Størmer Steira Hilde Gjermundshaug Pedersen Kristin Mürer Stemland Marit Bjørgen	4 x 5 km relay	55:21.8	5

Sprint

Athlete	Event	Qualifying		Quarterfinal		Semifinal		Final
		Total	Rank	Total	Rank	Total	Rank	Total	Rank
Marit Bjørgen	Women's sprint	2:16.38	17 Q	2:16.8	4	Did not advance	18
Ella Gjømle	Women's sprint	2:16.02	13 Q	2:15.7	2 Q	2:16.4	4	Final B 2:18.2	6
Ola Vigen Hattestad	Men's sprint	2:17.26	12 Q	2:23.1	1 Q	2:29.0	5	Did not advance	9
Tor Arne Hetland	Men's sprint	2:17.91	15 Q	2:26.1	2 Q	2:43.2	5	Did not advance	10
Trond Iversen	Men's sprint	2:16.25	7 Q	2:22.5	4 Q	Did not advance	17
Johan Kjølstad	Men's sprint	2:15.11	3 Q	2:20.2	1 Q	2:27.1	4	Final B 2:25.6	7
Hilde Gjermundshaug Pedersen	Women's sprint	2:17.17	23 Q	2:19.1	6	Did not advance	28
Tor Arne Hetland Jens Arne Svartedal	Men's team sprint	n/a	17:22.1	1 Q	17:03.5
Marit Bjørgen Ella Gjømle	Women's team sprint	n/a	17:14.4	1 Q	16:48.1	4

Curling

See main article: Curling at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

The curling teams for men and women were nominated following the 2005 European Curling Championships, where Pål Trulsen and his team won gold for men, while Dordi Nordby finished fourth with her team.

Trulsen's team were the reigning Olympic champions, while Nordby had finished seventh in 2002 and fifth in 1998.^[8]

Men's

Team: Pål Trulsen (skip), Lars Vågberg, Flemming Davanger, Bent Ånund Ramsfjell, Torger Nergård (alternate)

Round Robin

Draw 1

Draw 3

Draw 4

Draw 5

Draw 6

Draw 7

Draw 9

Draw 10

Draw 11

Standings

width=25	Rank	width=150	Team	width=150	Skip	width=60	Won	width=60	Lost
1		Markku Uusipaavalniemi	7	2
2		Brad Gushue	6	3
3		Pete Fenson	6	3
4		David Murdoch	6	3
5		Pål Trulsen	5	4
6		Ralph Stockli	5	4
7		Joel Retornaz	4	5
8		Peter Lindholm	3	6
9		Andy Kapp	3	6
10		Sean Becker	0	9

Women's

Team: Dordi Nordby (skip), Marianne Haslum, Marianne Rørvik, Camilla Holth, Charlotte Hovring (alternate)

Round Robin

Draw 1

Draw 2

Draw 3

Draw 4

Draw 6

Draw 7

Draw 9

Draw 11

Draw 12

Standings

width=25	Rank	width=150	Team	width=150	Skip	width=60	Won	width=60	Lost
1		Anette Norberg	7	2
2		Mirjam Ott	7	2
3		Shannon Kleibrink	6	3
4		Dordi Nordby	6	3
5		Rhona Martin	5	4
6		Ludmila Privivkova	5	4
7		Ayumi Onodera	4	5
8		Dorthe Holm	2	7
9		Cassandra Johnson	2	7
10		Diana Gaspari	1	8

Playoffs

Semifinal

Bronze Final

Key: The hammer indicates which team had the last stone in the first end.

Freestyle skiing

See main article: Freestyle skiing at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Athlete	Event	Qualifying		Final
		Points	Rank	Points	Rank
Ingrid Berntsen	Women's moguls	22.45	14 Q	19.84	19
Kari Traa	Women's moguls	24.06	7 Q	25.65

Nordic combined

See main article: Nordic combined at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Athlete	Event	Ski jumping		Cross-country
		Points	Rank	Deficit	Time	Rank
Kristian Hammer	Sprint	94.3	41	2:06	20:08.1 +1:39.1	28
	Individual Gundersen	183.0	44	5:18	44:50.8 +5:06.2	35
Håvard Klemetsen	Sprint	98.0	34	1:51	21:06.6 +2:37.6	40
	Individual Gundersen	229.0	15	2:14	43:00.5 +3:15.9	20
Magnus Moan	Sprint	111.8	13	0:56	18:34.4 +5.4
	Individual Gundersen	237.5	9	1:40	40:00.8 +16.2
Petter Tande	Sprint	118.2	5	0:30	18:59.1 +30.1	6
	Individual Gundersen	262.0	2	0:02	40:00.9 +16.3	4
Kristian Hammer Håvard Klemetsen Magnus Moan Petter Tande	Team	did not start

Note: 'Deficit' refers to the amount of time behind the leader a competitor began the cross-country portion of the event. Italicized numbers show the final deficit from the winner's finishing time.

Skeleton

See main article: Skeleton at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Ski jumping

See main article: Ski jumping at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Athlete	Event	Qualifying		First round		Final
		Points	Rank	Points	Rank	Points	Total	Rank
Lars Bystøl	Normal hill	0.0	PQ	131.0	6 Q	135.5	266.5
	Large hill	129.2	6 PQ	121.5	5 Q	129.2	250.7
Roar Ljøkelsøy	Normal hill	120.5	10 PQ	132.0	5 Q	132.5	264.5
	Large hill	114.1	10 PQ	127.8	3 Q	115.0	242.8	4
Sigurd Pettersen	Normal hill	disqualified
	Large hill	115.9	2 Q	106.3	17 Q	96.2	202.5	24
Bjørn Einar Romøren	Normal hill	118.0	12 PQ	125.5	15 Q	122.5	248.0	15
	Large hill	120.9	8 PQ	121.8	4 Q	116.4	238.2	7
Lars Bystøl Bjørn Einar Romøren Tommy Ingebrigtsen Roar Ljøkelsøy	Team	n/a	452.4	3 Q	497.7	650.1

Note: PQ indicates a skier was pre-qualified for the final, based on entry rankings.

Snowboarding

See main article: Snowboarding at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Halfpipe

Athlete	Event	Qualifying run 1		Qualifying run 2		Final
		Points	Rank	Points	Rank	Run 1	Run 2	Rank
Frederik Austbø	Men's halfpipe	29.2	18	13.0	32	did not advance	38
Kjersti Buaas	Women's halfpipe	19.2	21	41.9	2 Q	(40.9)	42.0
Halvor Lunn	Men's halfpipe	24.2	25	26.4	24	did not advance	30
Kim Christiansen	Men's halfpipe	31.0	16	5.1	35	did not advance	41

Note: In the final, the single best score from two runs is used to determine the ranking. A bracketed score indicates a run that wasn't counted.

Speed skating

See main article: Speed skating at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Men

Athlete	Event	Race 1		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Petter Andersen	1000 m	n/a	1:10.38	18
	1500 m	n/a	1:47.15	7
Håvard Bøkko	1500 m	did not finish
Eskil Ervik	5000 m	n/a	6:26.91	10
	10000 m	n/a	13:37.62	11
Mikael Flygind-Larsen	1000 m	n/a	1:10.13	14
	1500 m	n/a	1:47.28	8
Øystein Grødum	5000 m	n/a	6:24.21	8
	10000 m	n/a	13:12.58	4
Lasse Sætre	5000 m	n/a	6:25.15	9
	10000 m	n/a	13:12.93	5
Even Wetten	1000 m	n/a	1:10.57	23
	1500 m	n/a	1:47.78	10

Women

Athlete	Event	Race 1		Final
		Time	Rank	Time	Rank
Annette Bjelkevik	1500 m	n/a	2:01.03	17
	3000 m	n/a	4:17.57	37
Hedvig Bjelkevik	1500 m	n/a	2:02.16	26
Maren Haugli	1500 m	n/a	2:01.22	19
	3000 m	n/a	4:12.50	15
	5000 m	n/a	7:06.08	8

Team pursuit

Athlete	Event	Seeding		Quarterfinal	Semifinal	Final
		Time	Rank	Opposition Time	Opposition Time	Opposition Time	Rank
From: Eskil Ervik Øystein Grødum Lasse Sætre Håvard Bøkko Mikael Flygind-Larsen	Men's team pursuit	3:49.55	4	(4) W 3:47.81	(1) L 3:47.81	Bronze final (3) L 3:45.96	4
From: Annette Bjelkevik Hedvig Bjelkevik Maren Haugli	Women's team pursuit	3:06.34	2	(7) L Overtaken	did not finish	7th place final (8) W 3:06.20	7

Trivia

"Partly Norwegian" medal(ist)s

In the Norwegian media, two gold and one silver medal won by foreign athletes were humorously presented as part-Norwegian medals, since the medalists in question were of Norwegian descent or family:

• Women's snowboard cross gold medalist Tanja Frieden has a dual Swiss-Norwegian citizenship (mother is Norwegian) and speaks the language.
• Women's skeleton gold medalist Maya Pedersen, also of Switzerland, lives in Øyer, Norway, with her Norwegian husband, Snorre Pedersen.
• Women's 1,500 m speed skating silver medalist Kristina Groves, of Canada, is of Norwegian descent (many relatives in Stjørdal, Norway).

Grateful Canadian XC ski fans

A large group of Canadian winter sports fans was delighted and impressed by the Norwegian cross-country skiing sports director Bjørnar Håkensmoen's impulsive display of sportsmanship when he handed Canadian skier Sara Renner a ski pole only seconds after her own broke during the sprint relay. Renner and team mate Beckie Scott went on to win the silver medal (while the Norwegians placed fourth).^[9]

To show their appreciation, a group known as the "Independent Communications Dealers of Canada" mounted a "thank you" campaign called "Project Maple Syrup", organizing a shipment of 8,000 cans of maple syrup to Norway.^[10]

References

• Disse er klare for OL, a list of the 63 athletes officially selected, from Nettavisen, retrieved 26 January 2006.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Flagbearers for the Opening Ceremony. 30 March 2009.
2. Web site: Flagbearers for the Closing Ceremony. 30 March 2009.
3. Tror på 25 OL-medaljer from NRK, accessed 20 December 2005.
4. OL-billetten glapp for Rune Stordahl from Bergens Tidende, accessed 21 December 2005.
5. - Pallplass er målsettingen from VG, accessed 10 January 2006.
6. Ikke OL for Skofterud, from VG, published 22 January 2006.
7. Angrer du på uttaket? from Aftenposten, published 22 January 2006.
8. Dordi Nordby og curling, kvinner, from NRK, accessed 20 December 2005.
9. http://www.aftenposten.no/english/sports/article1225796.ece Canadians hail Norwegian coach's sportsmanship
10. http://www.aftenposten.no/english/sports/article1231235.ece Sweet thanks from Canada