Gunder Gundersen (12 September 1930 – 2 June 2005) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

Nordic combined Nordic combined is a winter sport in which athletes compete in cross-country skiing (sport), cross-country skiing and ski jumping. The Nordic combined at the Winter Olympics has been held since the first ever 1924 Winter Olympics, Winter Olympic ...

skier and sports official. He was born in

Asker Asker ( no, Asker), properly called Askerbygda in Norwegian, is a district and former Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus, Norway. From 2020 it is part of the larger administrative municipality Asker, Viken (also known as Greate ...

Competitive career

During his active career he won two individual

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 e ...

medals (1954: silver, 1958: bronze) and 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 March ...

three times (1952, 1959 (shared with Sverre Stenersen, and 1960). He finished eleventh in the Nordic combined event at the

1960 Winter Olympics The 1960 Winter Olympics (officially the VIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Squaw Valley 1960) were a winter multi-sport event held from February 18 to 28, 1960, at the Squaw Valley Resort (now known as Palisades Tahoe) in Squaw Vall ...

in Squaw Valley.Sports-reference.com profile
/ref> Gundersen received the Holmenkollen medal in 1959 and represented the club

IF Frisk Asker Idrettsforeningen Frisk Asker is a Norwegian sports club from Asker, Akershus. It has sections for association football and ice hockey. It also used to play bandy. Ice hockey The men's ice hockey team are one of Norway's leading teams. Their ...

Post-retirement career

Gundersen was the Technical Director of the

individual event at the

1980 Winter Olympics The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially the XIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Lake Placid 1980, were an international multi-sport event held from February 13 to 24, 1980, in Lake Placid, New York, United States. Lake Placid was elected ...

Lake Placid, New York Lake Placid is a village in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,303. The village of Lake Placid is near the center of the town of North Elba, southwest of Plattsburgh. ...

. His most significant impact on Nordic combined was creating the "

Gundersen method The Gundersen method is a method in the Nordic combined developed by Gunder Gundersen, a Nordic combined athlete from Norway, that was first used in the 1980s. In it, the ski jumping portion comes first, and points in the ski jump determine when ind ...

", in use since 1985. This method recalculated the

ski jumping Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the final ...

points into

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...

start times with the athletes then starting at staggered times with the winning ski jumper starting first. For the 15 km individual and the 7.5 km sprint, the difference between the competitors at the start of the cross country portion of the event was one ski jumping point equaling four seconds. For the 4 × 5 km team event, one ski jumping point equaled 3 seconds, but this was changed in 1995 to one point equaling 1.5 seconds, then in 2005 to one point equaling one second, and then again in 2009 to one point equaling 1.33 seconds.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gundersen, Gunder 1930 births 2005 deaths People from Asker Norwegian male Nordic combined skiers Holmenkollen medalists Holmenkollen Ski Festival winners Nordic combined skiers at the 1960 Winter Olympics Olympic Nordic combined skiers of Norway FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in Nordic combined Norwegian sports executives and administrators