Norway sent 74 athletes to the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...

in Turin, Italy. 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 ...

Norway won the most gold medals, and before the Turin games, Norwegian sports officials were aiming for more than the 25 medals they won in Salt Lake City — the president of the Norwegian Skiing Federation

Sverre Seeberg Sverre Knutsønn Seeberg (born 3 December 1950) is a Norwegian sports official. He was an active dog sled racer, being national champion in the sport. He served as president of the Norwegian Sled Dog Racing Association, co-founded the European Sle ...

was quoted saying he thought Norway would win 25 medals in the skiing events alone (

alpine skiing Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing ( cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether for ...

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 ...

freestyle skiing Freestyle skiing is a skiing discipline comprising aerials, Mogul Skiing, moguls, Ski Cross, cross, Half-pipe skiing, half-pipe, slopestyle and big air as part of the Freestyle skiing at the Winter Olympics, Winter Olympics. It can consist of a ...

, Nordic combined and ski jumping). The Norwegian Olympic Committee aimed for Norway to be the best nation measured in the number of gold medals. However, Norway won only two gold medals in the games, the lowest amount since 1988. In addition to the skiing events, Norway also qualified athletes in biathlon, curling,

skeleton A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of an animal. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside ...

snowboarding Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered surface while standing on a snowboard that is almost always attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralympi ...

and speed skating. In addition to IOC qualifying times, the Norwegian Olympic Committee have required that athletes need to place themselves once in the top six or twice in the top twelve in major individual events in the sport to be selected. Curler Pål Trulsen served as flag bearer at the

opening ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event.

Medalists

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Alpine skiing

Note: In the men's combined, run 1 is the downhill, and runs 2 and 3 are the slalom. In the women's combined, run 1 and 2 are the slalom, and run 3 the downhill.

Biathlon

;Men ;Women

Cross-country skiing

On 9 January the selection of four male athletes for the sprint event was made public. Following the conclusion of the individual events at the 2006 Norwegian Championships, a further thirteen skiers were selected. The Norwegian director of cross-country skiing sport,

Bjørnar Håkensmoen Bjørnar Håkensmoen (or ''Bjoernar Haakensmoen'', born July 18, 1969) was the head coach of the Norway, Norwegian cross-country skiing team at the 2006 Winter Olympics. He rose to fame after offering Canadian skier Sara Renner his ski pole af ...

, received "terribly many" reactions after he announced the team on 21 January, and the following day the newspaper '' Aftenposten'' asked him whether he "regretted" not selecting

Petter Northug Petter Northug Jr. (born 6 January 1986) is a Norwegian former cross-country skier and double Olympic champion. He won a total of 13 World Championship and two Winter Olympic gold medals with 20 medals overall (two gold, one silver and one bronze ...

, who had won both the double pursuit and the relay (as part of a team representing Strindheim IL) at the Norwegian Skiing Championship. ;Distance ;Men ;Women ;Sprint

Curling

The curling teams for men and women were nominated following the 2005 European Curling Championships, where Pål Trulsen and his team won gold for men, while Dordi Nordby finished fourth with her team. Trulsen's team were the reigning Olympic champions, while Nordby had finished seventh in 2002 and fifth in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

Men's

Team: Pål Trulsen (skip),

Lars Vågberg Lars Vågberg (born 30 June 1967 in Sollefteå, Sweden) is a Norwegian curler from Bærum. Vågberg began his international curling career in Sweden. In his first international tournament, he was the second Mikael Hasselborg's 1990 European Cu ...

Flemming Davanger Flemming Davanger (born 1 April 1963 in Bergen, Norway) is a Norwegian curler from Bærum. Curling career In his third World Junior Curling Championships in , Davanger, playing second Pål Trulsen's Norwegian team picked up a silver medal, los ...

Bent Ånund Ramsfjell Bent Ånund Ramsfjell (born 30 November 1967 in Oslo) is a Norwegian curler from Asker. He is the younger brother of Eigil Ramsfjell, multiple curling world champion and bronze medallist at the 1998 Winter Olympics competition in Nagano. Ramsfj ...

, Torger Nergård (alternate) ;Round Robin ;Draw 1 ;Draw 3 ;Draw 4 ;Draw 5 ;Draw 6 ;Draw 7 ;Draw 9 ;Draw 10 ;Draw 11 ;Standings

Women's

Team: Dordi Nordby (skip), Marianne Haslum, Marianne Rørvik, Camilla Holth,

Charlotte Hovring Charlotte Hovring (born 3 September 1979 in Bærum, Norway) is a Norwegian curler. She participated in the 2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also ...

(alternate) ;Round Robin ;Draw 1 ;Draw 2 ;Draw 3 ;Draw 4 ;Draw 6 ;Draw 7 ;Draw 9 ;Draw 11 ;Draw 12 ;Standings ;Playoffs ;Semifinal ;Bronze Final Key: The hammer indicates which team had the last stone in the first end.

Freestyle skiing

Nordic combined

Note: 'Deficit' refers to the amount of time behind the leader a competitor began the cross-country portion of the event. Italicized numbers show the final deficit from the winner's finishing time.

Skeleton

Ski jumping

Note: PQ indicates a skier was pre-qualified for the final, based on entry rankings.

Snowboarding

;Halfpipe Note: In the final, the single best score from two runs is used to determine the ranking. A bracketed score indicates a run that wasn't counted.

Speed skating

;Men

;Women ;Team pursuit

Trivia

"Partly Norwegian" medal(ist)s In the Norwegian media, two gold and one silver medal won by foreign athletes were humorously presented as part-Norwegian medals, since the medalists in question were of Norwegian descent or family: * Women's snowboard cross gold medalist Tanja Frieden has a dual

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

-Norwegian citizenship (mother is Norwegian) and speaks the language. * Women's skeleton gold medalist Maya Pedersen, also of

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, lives in Øyer, Norway, with her Norwegian husband, Snorre Pedersen. * Women's 1,500 m speed skating silver medalist Kristina Groves, of Canada, is of Norwegian descent (many relatives in

Stjørdal Stjørdal () or is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Stjørdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Stjørdal, also called Stjørdalshalsen. Some of the villages in the municipalit ...

, Norway). Grateful Canadian XC ski fans A large group of Canadian winter sports fans was delighted and impressed by the Norwegian

sports director Bjørnar Håkensmoen's impulsive display of sportsmanship when he handed Canadian skier Sara Renner a

ski pole Ski poles, also referred to as poles (in North America), sticks (UK), or stocks (Australia), are used by skiers for balance and propulsion. Modern ski poles are most commonly made from aluminum and carbon fiber, though materials such as bamboo are ...

only seconds after her own broke during the sprint relay. Renner and team mate Beckie Scott went on to win the silver medal (while the Norwegians placed fourth). To show their appreciation, a group known as the "Independent Communications Dealers of Canada" mounted a "thank you" campaign called "Project Maple Syrup", organizing a shipment of 8,000 cans of

maple syrup Maple syrup is a syrup made from the sap of maple trees. In cold climates, these trees store starch in their trunks and roots before winter; the starch is then converted to sugar that rises in the sap in late winter and early spring. Maple tree ...

to Norway.Sweet thanks from Canada
from '' Aftenposten'', published 16 February 2006.

References

*
Disse er klare for OL
a list of the 63 athletes officially selected, from '' Nettavisen'', retrieved 26 January 2006. {{Nations at the 2006 Winter Olympics Nations at the 2006 Winter Olympics

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...