Knut Bjørnsen (26 July 1932 – 14 November 2008) was a

sports commentator In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

and

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

for the

Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the largest ...

. In his youth, Bjørnsen was a promising

speed skater Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating. ...

. He was junior Norwegian champion in 1951. He worked for the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation between 1961 and 1991, and was NRK's main commentator for speed skating most of those years, together with fellow NRK veteran journalist

Per Jorsett Per Jorsett (11 May 1920 – 30 January 2019) was a Norwegian freelance sports reporter, sport historian and sports shooter. He reported for '' Sportsmanden'' from 1945 to 1961, and for the newspapers ''Dagbladet'' and ''Nationen''. He had commi ...

. He also hosted the popular Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation

game show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or Let's Play, demonstrative and are typically directed b ...

''Kvitt eller dobbelt'' ("Double or Nothing") for many years. In 1991, Bjørnsen left the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, and began working for cable channel

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso *Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala *Channel 3 (Algeria), a public Algerian TV channel owned by EPTV ...

, where he hosted the game show ''Lykkehjulet'' (a Norwegian adaptation of

Wheel of Fortune The Wheel of Fortune or ''Rota Fortunae'' has been a concept and metaphor since ancient times referring to the capricious nature of Fate. Wheel of Fortune may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Art * ''The Wheel of Fortune'' (Burne-Jo ...

). In his later years, he spoke out as a supporter of the Progress Party, having lost his confidence in the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

. In April 2008, Bjørnsen was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer, and he died from the illness seven months later, on 14 November 2008.

References

1932 births 2008 deaths Deaths from pancreatic cancer Deaths from cancer in Norway Norwegian television journalists Norwegian male speed skaters NRK people Norwegian game show hosts TV3 (Norway) people Sportspeople from Oslo {{Norway-speed-skater-bio-stub