Christian Olsson (born 25 January 1980) is a former

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

competing in

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

and

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

. He won an Olympic gold medal, one gold and one silver medal in the World Championships and two gold medals in the European Championships as well as a further two golds in the World Indoor championships. He also won the overall

IAAF Golden League The IAAF Golden League was an annual series of outdoor track and field meetings organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). Athletes who won specific events at all of the series meetings were awarded a jackpot prize, ...

jackpot in 2004 where he cashed in 500,000 US dollars (after splitting the million dollar pot with

Tonique Williams-Darling Tonique Williams-Darling ( Williams; born January 17, 1976, Nassau, Bahamas) is a Bahamian sprint athlete. She won the gold medal in the 400 meters at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. College She attended ...

). From 2007 to his retirement in 2012, he was beset by injuries which left him largely on the sidelines and unable to compete at top level competitions.

Biography

Olsson was born in

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

, and made his international breakthrough in 2001 when he won silver at the

2001 World Championships in Athletics The 8th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada between 3 August and 12 August and was the first time the event ...

. He has the Swedish national record outdoors, 17.79 m (

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

), and the Swedish national record indoors, 17.83 m (2004). Olsson has won the Swedish Championships seven times, and has also competed successfully on national level in

ing. On 7 March 2004, at the

2004 World Indoor Championships in Athletics The 10th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) were held in the Budapest Arena, Hungary between March 5 and March 7, 2004. A total off 139 countries were re ...

, he jumped 17.83 m and matched the

World Record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

. On 23 August 2004, at the

, he jumped 17.79 m, broke the national record and won the gold medal as the first Swede since Gustaf Lindblom in

1912 Events January * January 1 – The Republic of China (1912–49), Republic of China is established. * January 5 – The Prague Conference (6th All-Russian Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party) opens. * January 6 ...

, 92 years earlier. Four of his six jumps were longer than the silver medalist's best jump. With the Olympic Gold he completed a rare international sweep, having the Olympic, World Indoor, Outdoor, Regional (European) Indoor and Outdoor titles. Olsson first became interested in triple jump after watching

Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Edwards may refer to: Musicians *Jonathan and Darlene Edwards, pseudonym of bandleader Paul Weston and his wife, singer Jo Stafford *Jonathan Edwards (musician) (born 1946), American musician ** ''Jonathan Edwards'' (album), debut album ...

set the world record at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in his hometown Gothenburg. Since 1999, Olsson has been trained by

Yannick Tregaro Yannick Tregaro (born 26 March 1978 in Gunnared) is a Swedish athletics coach. Early career Tregaro was a prospective high jumper, who placed 10th in the final of the high jump at the 1996 World Junior Championships. His coach was Viljo Nousiai ...

. Before that, Olsson was trained by

Viljo Nousiainen Viljo Nousiainen (9 March 1944 – 11 June 1999) was a prominent Swedish Finn athletics coach. Career Nousiainen was born in Kiuruvesi. As an athletics coach, he specialized in training jumpers for Örgryte IS Sports Club in Gothenburg during th ...

. During the autumn and winter 2004/2005 he injured his foot (an injury originating from the 2004 Olympic Final), preventing him from being able to do triple-jumping at full speed. Unfortunately the injury healed very slowly, and it was still in January 2006 hampering him. In his first competition after the injury, in June 2006, he jumped 17.09 and seem to be back into shape. A month later he won the gold medal at

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

in his hometown Gothenburg, with a jump of 17.67 m. At the beginning of the 2007 indoor season, Olsson was injured yet again, and was unable to compete at the

European indoor championships The European Indoor Championships was a men's tennis tournament played in Berlin, Germany. The event was played as part of the ATP Tour in 1990 and 1991. It was played on indoor carpet courts. Finals Singles Doubles See also * Berlin Open ...

. Olsson returned to competition in June at the

event in Oslo, jumping 17.33 m. In July, he won Golden League event in Paris with 17.56 m. At the Golden League event in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, he retired after the second round due to a

cramp A cramp is a sudden, involuntary, painful skeletal muscle contraction or overshortening associated with electrical activity; while generally temporary and non-damaging, they can cause significant pain and a paralysis-like immobility of the aff ...

. Olsson went to the

2007 World Championships in Athletics The 11th World Championships in Athletics, () under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), were held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan from 24 August to 2 September 2007. 200 of the IAAF's 212 member federat ...

but had to pull out before the competition due to an injury during training. After almost one year of

rehabilitation Rehabilitation or Rehab may refer to: Health * Rehabilitation (neuropsychology), therapy to regain or improve neurocognitive function that has been lost or diminished * Rehabilitation (wildlife), treatment of injured wildlife so they can be retur ...

, he returned to competition in July 2008 at the annual event in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, "DN Galan", but had to pull out due to injury. Afterwards, he announced that he would not compete anymore during the 2008 season; hence he would not participate in the Beijing Olympics. He also suggested that he might retire from the sport. Upon a request from the Swedish Olympic team, Olsson agreed to carry the Swedish flag during the opening ceremony. In July 2009, Olsson made a comeback in a minor event arranged by Örgryte IS in

. He then jumped 17.24 m. On 3 August 2009 Olsson competed in Swedish Championships in Malmö. He won the competition with a jump at 16.72 m. This was the first competition Olsson failed to reach 17 m or more since he jumped in a competition in Birmingham in 2003. On 14 May 2012, Olsson ultimately declared his intentions to retire from professional triple jump competitions. Christian Olsson lives with his family in

Lindome Lindome () is a civil parish and a locality situated in Mölndal Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 13,830 inhabitants in the parish in 2009 (11,037 inhabitants in the locality in 2010). The Swedish comic creator Rune Andreasson ...

, south of

Göteborg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has a p ...

Competition record

Other victories

Triple jump

*2001:

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

(Grand Prix) - 17.08 m;

Vaasa Vaasa (; sv, Vasa, , Sweden ), in the years 1855–1917 as Nikolainkaupunki ( sv, Nikolajstad; literally meaning "city of Nicholas),

(European Cup first league) - 17.00 m;

Rethymno Rethymno ( el, Ρέθυμνο, , also ''Rethimno'', ''Rethymnon'', ''Réthymnon'', and ''Rhíthymnos'') is a city in Greece on the island of Crete. It is the capital of Rethymno regional unit, and has a population of more than 30,000 inhabitants ( ...

(athletics meet) - 17.49 m *2002:

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

(Grand Prix) - 17.40 m;

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

(European Cup first league) - 17.63 m;

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

(

) - 17.63 m; Berlin (Golden League) - 17.40 m; Paris (Grand Prix Final) - 17.48 m *2003:

Lappeenranta Lappeenranta (; sv, Villmanstrand) is a city and municipality in the region of South Karelia, about from the Russian border and from the town of Vyborg (''Viipuri''). It is situated on the shore of the Lake Saimaa in southeastern Finland, and ...

(European Cup first league) - 17.38 m; Rethymno (athletics meet) - 17.55 m;

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

(Grand Prix) - 17.92(w) m;

(Grand Prix) - 17.36 m; Monaco (

World Athletics Final The IAAF World Athletics Final was an annual track and field competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). It was inaugurated in 2003 to replace the IAAF Grand Prix Final. The competition was part of the ...

) - 17.55 m *2004:

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

(Grand Prix) - 17.61 m;

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

(Golden League) - 17.58 m;

Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz ( , , ; german: Bromberg) is a city in northern Poland, straddling the meeting of the River Vistula with its left-bank tributary, the Brda. With a city population of 339,053 as of December 2021 and an urban agglomeration with more ...

(European Cup super league) - 17.30 m; Gateshead (Grand Prix) - 17.43 m; Rome (Golden League) - 17.50 m; Paris Saint-Denis (Golden League) - 17.41 m;

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

(Golden League) - 17.46 m;

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

(Golden League) - 17.44 m; Berlin (Golden League) - 17.45 m; Monaco (

) - 17.66 m *2006:

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

(European Cup super league) - 17.40 m;

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...

(Grand Prix) - 17.62 m; London (Grand Prix) - 17.42 m; Zürich (Golden League-meet) - 17.39 m *2007: Vaasa (European Cup first league) - 17.33 m; Paris Saint-Denis (Golden League) - 17.56 m; Rome (Golden League) - 17.19 m

International awards

* Waterford Crystal European Athlete of the Year Trophy 2004 *Waterford Crystal European Athlete of the Year Trophy 2003

Personal bests

Triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

**Indoor - 17.83 metres **Outdoor - 17.79 metres *

High jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

- 2.28 metres *

Long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

- 7.71 metres

References

External links

* * * *
BBC Sports Article - (2004 Summer Olympics)

BBC Sports Article - (2003 World Championships in Athletics)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Olsson, Christian 1980 births Living people Athletes from Gothenburg Olympic athletes for Sweden Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Sweden Swedish male triple jumpers Swedish male high jumpers Swedish expatriates in Monaco World Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Örgryte IS Friidrott athletes Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Goodwill Games medalists in athletics IAAF Golden League winners European Athlete of the Year winners World Athletics Indoor Championships winners World Athletics Championships winners Competitors at the 2001 Goodwill Games