Kari Traa (born 28 January 1974) is 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 ...

former Olympic

freestyle skier Freestyle skiing is a skiing discipline comprising aerials, moguls, cross, half-pipe, slopestyle and big air as part of the Winter Olympics. It can consist of a skier performing aerial flips and spins and can include skiers sliding rails and ...

. She won the

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

title in the

mogul Mogul may refer to: History *Mughal Empire, or any member of its ruling dynasty Persons * Magnate ** Mogul, Secret Service codename for President Trump ** Business magnate, a prominent person in a particular industry **Media mogul, a person who ...

s event at the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

, finished second at the 2006 games, and finished third at the 1998 games.

Accomplishments

She is four times World Champion, from 2001 (moguls + parallel moguls) and 2003 (moguls + parallel moguls), and has also three silver medals (both moguls and parallel moguls in 1999, and moguls in 2005)."World Freestyle Skiing Champions"
– ''hickoksports.com'' (Retrieved on December 27, 2007) She has a total of 37 World Cup victories. Kari Traa missed the cut for the final round and finished 14th in the 1992 Winter Olympics at Albertville - the first official Olympic mogul competition. Kari did not compete when the Games came to Lillehammer, Norway in 1994. She injured her knee after wiping out on a training run just three weeks before the Olympics. After the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan - Kari finally had an Olympic medal when she won bronze. In subsequent Winter Olympics she gained a gold medal (2002) and silver (2006).

Publicity

Traa attracted attention when she posed almost nude in a series of pictures in the sports magazine ''

Ultrasport ''Ultrasport'' was a Norwegian extreme sports magazine. The magazine was started in 1991. In 2001 the magazine published nude photos of Kari Traa Kari Traa (born 28 January 1974) is a Norwegian former Olympic freestyle skier. She won the Olympi ...

'' in 2001.Picture series
Kari Traa
– ''Ultrasport'' (2001) (Retrieved December 27, 2007) She started a company in 2002, selling sports clothes, and has later won awards for successfully launching her collections.Interview
"Endelig tid til kjæresten"
(Norwegian) (Retrieved December 27, 2007) Her autobiography ''Kari'' was issued in 2006.Kari Traa, Sarah Sørheim, Lasse Berre, "''Kari''", Damm 2006. After finishing her active career she has been engaged in recruitment of young ski talents and participated as arranger of world cup events. She is also engaged in the festival '' Ekstremsportveko'' (Extreme Sports Week) held at her home community

Voss Voss () is a municipality and a traditional district in Vestland county, Norway. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Vossevangen. Other villages include Bolstadøyri, Borstrondi, Evanger, Kvitheim, Mjølfjell, ...

, regarded as one of the world's largest

extreme sports Action sports, adventure sports or extreme sports are activities perceived as involving a high degree of risk. These activities often involve speed, height, a high level of physical exertion and highly specialized gear. Extreme tourism overl ...

festivals. Kari Traa was elected "Sexiest woman in Norway" in 2002 by the magazine ''MANN''."Nest mest sexy"
''Dagbladet'' – Fredag 23.08.2002 (Norwegian) (Retrieved December 27, 2007) ''Her og Nå'' and ''TV 2 Nettavisen'' elected her as "Most sexy woman" in both 2003 and 2004."Mest sexy"
– www.midtsiden.no : 20:07:04 (Norwegian) (Retrieved December 27, 2007) In 2007, she was second on a similar list compiled by the TV-program '' God kveld, Norge!''."Norges mest sexy kvinne"
(Norwegian) (Retrieved December 27, 2007) She was also mentioned as a sponsor for the Norwegian comedy duo

Ylvis Ylvis () are a Norwegian comedy duo consisting of brothers Vegard and Bård Ylvisåker. They debuted as professional variety artists in 2000 and have since appeared in several countries in variety shows, comedy concerts, television shows, radio ...

in a segment on their TV show ''

I kveld med YLVIS ''I kveld med YLVIS'' ("Tonight with Ylvis") is a Norwegian talk show hosted by Bård and Vegard Ylvisåker, with Calle Hellevang-Larsen as a permanent sidekick. During season 2 Calle was replaced by David Batra due to obligations he had made w ...

'' where they tried to become "big" in Swahiliwood. Ylvis asked Traa to co-fund a movie production that had run out of money. She agreed and co-funded it with Svendsen Eksos, a local car-repair shop in Norway. In return, Traa's merchandise company was mentioned in the movie's dialogue. In 2006 she received the

Nynorsk User of the Year Nynorsk User of the Year ( no, Årets nynorskbrukar) is a prize awarded by the Nynorsk Cultural Center at the Nynorsk Festival every year. The prize is awarded to the "persons or institutions that demonstrate the ability to break language and c ...

award.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Traa, Kari 1974 births Living people Norwegian female freestyle skiers Olympic freestyle skiers of Norway Freestyle skiers at the 1992 Winter Olympics Freestyle skiers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Freestyle skiers at the 2002 Winter Olympics Freestyle skiers at the 2006 Winter Olympics People from Voss Olympic gold medalists for Norway Olympic silver medalists for Norway Olympic bronze medalists for Norway Olympic medalists in freestyle skiing Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1998 Winter Olympics Sportspeople from Vestland 21st-century Norwegian women