Simon Ammann (; born 25 June 1981) is a Swiss

ski jumper 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 fina ...

. He is one of the most successful athletes in the history of the sport, having won four individual

Winter Olympic 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 hel ...

gold medals, in 2002 and 2010. His other achievements include winning the 2007 Ski Jumping World Championships, the 2010 Ski Flying World Championships, the 2010 Nordic Tournament, and the 2010 Ski Jumping World Cup overall title.

Career

Ammann made his debut at the age of 16 during the 1997–98 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup season. He qualified for the 1998 Olympic Games in

Nagano Nagano may refer to: Places * Nagano Prefecture, a prefecture in Japan ** Nagano (city), the capital city of the same prefecture *** Nagano 1998, the 1998 Winter Olympics *** Nagano Olympic Stadium, a baseball stadium in Nagano *** Nagano Universi ...

, Japan, where he finished 35th. Prior to 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 ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

, Ammann crashed and suffered injuries during training in

Willingen Willingen (official name: ''Willingen (Upland)'') is a municipality in Waldeck-Frankenberg in northern Hesse, Germany, some 80 km west of Kassel. Geography Location Willingen is found in Waldeck-Frankenberg district in the Upland. Its main ...

. Despite this, he won a gold medal in both the individual normal hill and large hill competitions, being only the second athlete to accomplish this feat (

Matti Nykänen Matti Ensio Nykänen (; 17 July 1963 – 4 February 2019) was a Finnish ski jumper who competed from 1981 to 1991. Widely considered to be the greatest male ski jumper of all time,

having done so in 1988). During the Olympics, Ammann gained international attention not only for his victories but also for his youthful and bespectacled appearance on the podium that many compared to

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

. In addition to acquiring Swiss stardom he also made appearances on American talk shows, such as the ''

Late Show with David Letterman The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the The Late Show (franchise), ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by ...

'' (on 20 February 2002). Ammann also won the ski jumping event 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 March ...

in 2002 and 2007. This earned him the Holmenkollen medal in 2007 (shared with

Frode Estil Frode Estil (born 31 May 1972 in Lierne, Nord-Trøndelag) is a retired Norwegian cross-country skier. He lives in Meråker with his wife Grete whom he married in the summer of 2001. They have two sons, Bernhard, born in August 2002, and Konrad ...

Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset (born 6 December 1971 in Nordfjordeid) is a Norwegian former cross-country skier who competed from 1993 to 2012. A classical technique specialist, Hjelmeset's biggest success is the gold medal in the 50 km event at the ...

King Harald V Harald V ( no, Harald den femte, ; born 21 February 1937) is King of Norway. He acceded to the throne on 17 January 1991. Harald was the third child and only son of King Olav V of Norway and Princess Märtha of Sweden. He was second in the lin ...

, and

Queen Sonja of Norway Sonja (born Sonja Haraldsen on 4 July 1937) is Queen of Norway since 17 January 1991 as the wife of King Harald V. Sonja and the then Crown Prince Harald had dated for nine years prior to their marriage in 1968. They had kept their relations ...

). He made his third Olympic appearance in 2006 in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

, Italy. On 24 February 2007, he won his first medal 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 e ...

with a victory in the Individual Large Hill in

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous cit ...

, Japan. Ammann would follow this with a

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

in the Individual Normal Hill the following week. Ammann would complete his set of medals with a

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

in the Individual Normal Hill event at the

FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 ( cs, Mistrovství světa v klasickém lyžování Liberec 2009) took place 18 February – 1 March 2009 in Liberec, Czech Republic. This was the fourth time these championships were hosted either i ...

in Liberec, Czech Republic. In 2010, competing in his fourth

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 ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, British Columbia, Canada, Ammann won the gold medal in the Individual Normal Hill event. He became the first man in Olympic history to win gold medals in the Individual Normal Hill event in two Olympics. On 20 February 2010, he also won a gold medal in the Individual Large Hill event at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, thus becoming the first man to win gold medals in both individual ski jumping events in two Olympic games, as well as the most decorated Swiss Olympic athlete of all time. His first jump was 144 meters. His second jump was 138 meters. In March 2010, Ammann became the overall winner of 2009–10 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup, winning all four events at the

Nordic Tournament The Nordic Tournament was an annual ski jumping tournament that was a part of the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup. The tournament started in 1997 as a counterpart to the widely successful Four Hills Tournament in Germany and Austria. It is held in Marc ...

and nine

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

events in one season overall. He finished the season by becoming the ski flying World Champion in

Planica Planica () is an Alpine valley in northwestern Slovenia, extending south from the border village of Rateče, not far from another well-known ski resort, Kranjska Gora. Further south, the valley extends into the Tamar Valley, a popular hiking ...

on the largest hill in the world. His 236.5 m fourth round jump was the longest jump of

the event ''The Event'' (stylized as THE EVƎNT) is an American television series containing elements of science fiction, action/adventure and political allegory. It was created by Nick Wauters and aired on NBC from September 20, 2010 to May 23, 2011. ...

and then the second longest jump in history. He won his most recent gold medal on the FIS World Cup circuit in December 2013. He was selected flag-bearer of the Swiss Winter Olympics team at Sochi, Russia, in February 2014. The

2014 Winter Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympic ...

in Sochi were disappointing for Ammann. He called a news conference, and there was a lot of buzz that he was going to announce his retirement. However, he merely gave a long talk about how it was too early to decide. On 6 January 2015, Ammann was injured on his second-round jump in

Bischofshofen Bischofshofen () is a town in the district of St. Johann im Pongau in the Austrian federal state of Salzburg. It is an important traffic junction located both on the Salzburg-Tyrol Railway line and at the Tauern Autobahn, a major highway route cr ...

during the final stage of the 2014/15

Four Hills Tournament The Four Hills Tournament (german: link=no, Vierschanzentournee) or the German-Austrian Ski Jumping Week (german: link=no, Deutsch-Österreichische Skisprung-Woche) is a ski jumping event composed of four World Cup events and has taken place in ...

. His representation has since stated that his condition is stable, with the most damage being to his face. The Four Hills tournament proved to be a very tough outing overall for Ammann, as he also fell in the first round in

Oberstdorf Oberstdorf ( Low Alemannic: ''Oberschdorf'') is a municipality and skiing and hiking town in Germany, located in the Allgäu region of the Bavarian Alps. It is the southernmost settlement in Germany and one of its highest towns. At the&nb ...

. In 2018 he participated in his 6th Olympics, finishing 11th in the normal hill and 13th in the large hill. Switzerland did not send a team this time. In

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

he participated in his 7th Olympics, finishing 25th in both hills. Together with Dominik Peter,

Gregor Deschwanden Gregor Deschwanden (born 27 February 1991) is a Swiss ski jumper. His best individual World Cup showing so far is 10th in an individual large hill in Germany in 2013. Deschwanden competed for Switzerland in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, ...

and

Killian Peier Killian Peier (born 28 March 1995) is a Swiss ski jumper. Career He competed at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2013 in Val di Fiemme, where he placed 10th in the team jumping with the Swiss team. He represented Switzerland at the FIS No ...

, the Swiss finished 8th in the men's large hill team competition.

World Cup

Standings

Wins

Personal life

Simon Ammann was born in

Grabs, Switzerland Grabs is a municipality in the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of Werdenberg in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. History Grabs is first mentioned in 841 as ''Quaravedes''. In 979 it was mentioned as ''Quadravedes'', then in 1235 as ''Grabdi ...

, to Margit and Heinrich Ammann and raised in

Unterwasser Unterwasser ( en, Underwater) is a village in the Toggenburg region of the canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland, situated at the confluence of the two streams forming the upper Thur (Switzerland), Thur (known as ''Säntisthur'' and ''Wildhausthur''). ...

, Switzerland. He has two brothers and three sisters. He married Yana Yanovskaya in 2010.

References

External links

*
Official home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ammann, Simon 1981 births Living people Holmenkollen medalists Holmenkollen Ski Festival winners ETH Zurich alumni Ski jumpers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Ski jumpers at the 2002 Winter Olympics Ski jumpers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Ski jumpers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Ski jumpers at the 2014 Winter Olympics Ski jumpers at the 2018 Winter Olympics Ski jumpers at the 2022 Winter Olympics Swiss male ski jumpers Olympic gold medalists for Switzerland Olympic ski jumpers of Switzerland Olympic medalists in ski jumping FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in ski jumping Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics