Gunde Anders Svan (born 12 January 1962) is a Swedish former cross-country skier and

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primaril ...

driver. During his cross-country skiing career he won a total of four gold, one silver and one bronze medals at the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

. Svan won a total of seven golds (15 km - 1989; 30 km and 4 × 10 km relay - 1985, 1991; 50 km - 1985, 1989; and 4 × 10 km relay - 1987), three silvers (15 km, 50 km, 4 × 10 km relay (all 1991)), and one bronze (4 × 10 km relay - 1985) at the

FIS Nordic World Ski Championships The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships is a biennial nordic skiing event organized by the International Ski Federation (FIS). The World Championships was started in 1925 for men and opened for women's participation in 1954. World Championship ev ...

. Svan also won the 15 km once (1983) and the 50 km twice (1986, 1990) at the

Holmenkollen ski festival The Holmenkollen Ski Festival ( no, Holmenkollen skifestival or ) is a traditional annual Nordic skiing event in Holmenkollen, Oslo, Norway. The full official name of the event is Holmenkollen FIS World Cup Nordic. History It takes place in Marc ...

. In 1984, he earned the

Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal The Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal ( sv, Svenska Dagbladets guldmedalj, but usually simply called ''Bragdguldet'', "The Feat Gold") is an annual award "for the most significant Swedish sports achievement of the year". It has been awarded by a jury le ...

, and in 1985, he earned the Holmenkollen medal (shared with Anette Bøe and Per Bergerud). He is a board member of the International Ski Federation.

Biography

During his skiing career he became known for his dedication and attention to detail. For instance, he used a lighter alloy on the tips of his ski poles, saving . He won two golds ( 15 km and

relay A relay Electromechanical relay schematic showing a control coil, four pairs of normally open and one pair of normally closed contacts An automotive-style miniature relay with the dust cover taken off A relay is an electrically operated swit ...

), one bronze ( 30 km) and one silver ( 50 km) at the

1984 Winter Olympics The 1984 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIV Olympic Winter Games ( Serbo-Croatian and Slovene: ''XIV. Zimske olimpijske igre''; Cyrillic: XIV Зимске олимпијске игре; mk, XIV Зимски олимписки иг� ...

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see names in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajev ...

. At the

1988 Winter Olympics ) , nations = 57 , athletes = 1,423 (1,122 men, 301 women) , events = 46 in 6 sports (10 disciplines) , opening = February 13, 1988 , closing = February 28, 1988 , opened_by = Governor General Jeanne Sauvé , cauldron ...

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...

, he won two golds for 50 km and relay. He also won the World championship gold six times and won the World cup five times. As a competitor in rallycross he got one gold medal in the Swedish Championship and a bronze medal in the FIA European Championship for Rallycross Drivers (1995: Division 1 – Group N category; with a

Toyota Celica GT-Four The Toyota Celica GT-Four is a high performance model of the Celica Liftback that was produced from 1986 to 1999, with a turbocharged '' 3S-GTE'' engine, and full-time AWD. It was created to compete in the World Rally Championship, whose regu ...

). One of the reasons for getting into another sport was that some people called him a natural skier while he himself maintained that it's just a matter of will and dedication, according to his famous tagline "nothing is impossible". He applied the same methods to his driving as his skiing and even built his own reaction-tester to practice for the rallycross eminently important starts. When his compatriot and teamboss, the late Christer Bohlin, was not able to fulfill his promise to upgrade his Toyota team for 1996 into the top ERC category (Division 2 by then), Svan quit and gave up rallycross. After retiring from his athletic career he has worked as the host for some game shows such as the Swedish version of '' American Gladiators'', '' Fort Boyard'' and '' Bingolotto''. He has played a seductive lady in the short movie ''En handelsresandes nöd'', directed by rock group Svenne Rubins and starring Claes Månsson, Björn Skifs and

Gert Klötzke Gert is a mainly masculine given name ( short form of Gerrit, Gerard, etc.) with some female bearers (short for Gertrude). Since 1993 no one in Sweden has been baptised as Gert according to the Swedish Bureau of Census, so the name is becoming ...

. He has also appeared in numerous commercials including a famous commercial where he impersonated fellow skier

Thomas Wassberg 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 J ...

. Svan resigned from his position as Chief of Cross-Country for Sweden on the week of 4 May 2009 after he was involved in its reorganization. He participated in '' Let's Dance 2018'' broadcast on TV4 where he finished third together with

Jeanette Carlsson Let's Dance 2012 was the seventh season of the Swedish version of Strictly Come Dancing, and was broadcast on the Swedish television channel TV4 starting on 30 March 2012. Couples Scoring Chart : indicate the lowest score for each week. : in ...

. He retired to his forest farm, where he worked with his son, Ferry Svan, and now supports his children's careers.

Cross-country skiing results

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

Olympic Games

* 6 medals – (4 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze)

World Championships

* 11 medals – (7 gold, 3 silver, 1 bronze)

World Cup

Season titles

* 5 titles – (5 overall)

Season standings

Individual podiums

* 30 victories * 46 podiums

Team podiums

* 9 victories * 14 podiums Note: Until the 1999 World Championships and the 1994 Winter Olympics, World Championship and Olympic races were included in the World Cup scoring system.

Racing record

Complete FIA European Rallycross Championship results

Division 1

References

External links

* * * * * *
May 8, 2009 article on changes in cross-country skiing, including Svan's resignation.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Svan, Gunde 1962 births Living people People from Vansbro Municipality Cross-country skiers from Dalarna County Cross-country skiers at the 1984 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 1988 Winter Olympics Holmenkollen medalists Holmenkollen Ski Festival winners Olympic cross-country skiers of Sweden Olympic gold medalists for Sweden Swedish male cross-country skiers Swedish racing drivers Olympic medalists in cross-country skiing FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in cross-country skiing FIS Cross-Country World Cup champions Medalists at the 1984 Winter Olympics Dala-Järna IK skiers Medalists at the 1988 Winter Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Sweden Olympic bronze medalists for Sweden European Rallycross Championship drivers