Birger Ruud

{{Infobox skier

| name = Birger Ruud

| image = Birger Ruud3.jpg

| caption = Ruud in 1936

| full_name = Birger Johannes Ruud

| birth_date = {{birth date text|23 August 1911}}

| birth_place = Kongsberg, Norway

| death_date = {{death-date and age|13 June 1998|23 August 1911}}

| death_place = Kongsberg, Norway

| personalbest = List of longest ski jumps#Men
Planica, Yugoslavia
(25 March 1934)

| show-medals = yes

| medaltemplates =

{{MedalCountry|{{flag|Norway}}}}

}}

Birger Johannes Ruud (23 August 1911 – 13 June 1998) was a Norwegian ski jumper and alpine skier.{{cite Sports-Reference |title=Birger Ruud |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ru/birger-ruud-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161203215227/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ru/birger-ruud-1.html |archive-date=3 December 2016}}

Career

File:Birger ruud.jpg

Born in Kongsberg, Birger Ruud, with his brothers Sigmund and Asbjørn, dominated international jumping in the 1930s, winning three world championships in 1931, 1935 and 1937.

Ruud also won the Olympic gold medal in 1932 and 1936, the first repeat winner of ski jumping gold.{{cite news |last1=Lutz |first1=Rachel |title=1948: Birger Ruud wins silver after surviving Nazi concentration camp |url=http://www.nbcolympics.com/news/1948-birger-ruud-wins-silver-after-surviving-nazi-concentration-camp |access-date=14 February 2018 |publisher=NBC Sports |date=14 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180622023741/http://www.nbcolympics.com/news/1948-birger-ruud-wins-silver-after-surviving-nazi-concentration-camp |archive-date=22 June 2018}} He also was an accomplished alpine skier, winning a bronze medal in the combined at the 1935 world championships. Ruud won the Holmenkollen ski jumping competition in 1934 and shared the Holmenkollen medal in 1937 with Olaf Hoffsbakken and Martin P. Vangsli.

In 1943, during the German occupation of Norway, Ruud was incarcerated at Grini concentration camp for expressing his anti-Nazi sentiments. After his release in 1944, he joined the Norwegian resistance movement.Wallechinsky, David; Jaime Loucky (2005). The Complete Book of the Winter Olympics, Toronto: Sport Classic Books. {{ISBN|1-894963-45-8}} He also competed in the 1948 Olympics, winning the ski jumping silver medal at age 36, though he was initially only at the Games as assistant coach of Norway’s ski jumping team. This accomplishment he personally held in the highest regard; it made him the first ski jumper to medal in three different Olympics. Ruud is also the only ski jumper to have won Olympic medals before and after the war and furthermore the one with the longest time period between winning medals at the Olympics (twelve years).

Twice he set ski jumping world records: 76.5 m (250.98 ft) in Odnesbakken in 1931, and 92 m (301.84 ft) in Planica in 1934.{{cite web |title=Kjempe-hopp i Flubergbakken (page 2) |url=https://www.nb.no/items/URN:NBN:no-nb_digavis_porsgrunnsdagblad_null_null_19310119_18_15_1?page=1 |publisher=Porsgrunns Dagblad |date=19 January 1931 |language=no}}{{cite web |title=Svetovni rekordi na naših tleh / Rekord za rekordom (page 1) |url=http://www.dlib.si/stream/URN:NBN:SI:DOC-I2JZMW1Z/61c857fc-1781-4b0a-a1c3-80e0a7188dc3/PDF |publisher=Jutro |date=26 March 1934 |language=sl}}

Later in life, Birger Ruud, with his friend Petter Hugsted, the 1948 gold medalist, participated in the creation of the Kongsberg Skiing Museum.

In 1987, a bronze sculpture of Birger Ruud, by the Norwegian sculptor Per Ung, was set up in Ruud’s native town of Kongsberg, and in 1991 he was awarded the Egebergs Ærespris for his achievements in ski jumping and alpine skiing. Ruud was selected to light the Olympic Flame at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics in Norway, but had to withdraw due to heart complications immediately before the event. He died in 1998, aged 86.

Ski jumping world records

class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:left; line-height:16px; width:42%;"

!style="background-color: #ccc;" width="100"|Date

!style="background-color: #ccc;" width="142"|Hill

!style="background-color: #ccc;" width="181"|Location

!style="background-color: #ccc;" width="42"|Metres

!style="background-color: #ccc;" width="42"|Feet

align=right|18 January 1931

| Odnesbakken

| Odnes, Norway

| align=center|76.5

| align=center|251

bgcolor=#FAEBD7

| align=right|24 March 1934

| Bloudkova velikanka K90

| Planica, Kingdom of Yugoslavia

| align=center|87

| align=center|285

align=right|25 March 1934

| Bloudkova velikanka K90

| Planica, Kingdom of Yugoslavia

| align=center|92

| align=center|302

{{color box|#FAEBD7}} Not recognized! Crash at world record distance.{{cite web |title=Višek smučarske sezone, p.14 |url=http://www.dlib.si/stream/URN:NBN:SI:DOC-4YQYVGIV/1aec3722-941e-490a-9af8-05411ae59933/PDF |publisher=Slovenec |date=25 March 1934 |language=sl}}

References

External links

{{FIS alpine skier|52686}}. Alpine skiing profile
{{FIS ski jumper|52687}}. Ski jumping profile
{{Olympics.com|birger-ruud}}
{{Olympedia}}
{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070224190249/http://www.skiforeningen.no/holmenkollen/holmenkollen_historikk |title=Holmenkollen medalists - click Holmenkollmedaljen for downloadable pdf file |date=dmy}} {{in lang|no}}
{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070224190249/http://www.skiforeningen.no/holmenkollen/holmenkollen_historikk |title=Holmenkollen winners since 1892 – click Vinnere for downloadable pdf file |date=dmy}} {{in lang|no}}
{{webarchive |url=https://archive.today/20141019113158/http://194.143.84.100/kultur/gater/data/b_skulptur_07.htm |title=Sculpture |date=dmy}}
{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720064426/http://skiinghistory.org/birgerruud.html |title=Biography of Birger Ruud in English |date=dmy}}
[http://www.birgerruud.no/ Birger Ruud's Memorial Fund]
[http://kongfil.org/ol/ol_utgiv.htm Birger Ruud Philately]