Edy Sixten Jernberg, known as "Sixten", (6 February 1929 – 14 July 2012) was a Swedish cross-country skier and one of the most successful cross-country skiers of all time. Between 1952 and 1964 he took part in 363 ski races, finishing within the podium in 263 and winning 134 of them; during this period he won four world titles and nine Olympic medals. In 12 starts over three consecutive Winter Games he never finished worse than fifth place, and between 1955 and 1960, he won 86 out of 161 competitions.Sixten Jernberg
Swedish Olympic Committee Jernberg was a blacksmith and a lumberjack before beginning his career as a cross-country skier. He specialized in the longer distances, with four of his eight gold medals coming over 50 km, one over 30 km and three in the 4 × 10 km relay. He also won Vasaloppet twice, 1955 and 1960. He won the 15 km at the Holmenkollen ski festival in 1954. At one competition, Jernberg had a fever and coughed up blood, but still finished the 50 km event.

Gunde Svan Gunde Anders Svan (born 12 January 1962) is a Swedish former cross-country skier and auto racing driver. During his cross-country skiing career he won a total of four gold, one silver and one bronze medals at the Winter Olympics. Svan won a total ...

said: "It was almost like ixtendidn't like his own body and tried to punish it in different ways." For his cross-country skiing successes, Jernberg was awarded the Holmenkollen medal in 1960 (shared with

Helmut Recknagel Helmut Recknagel (born 20 March 1937 in Steinbach-Hallenberg) is an East German former ski jumper who was active in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He earned a gold medal at the 1960 Winter Olympics in ski jumping and also won the Holmenkollen ...

Sverre Stensheim Sverre Malvin Stensheim (31 October 1933 – 22 January 2022) was a Norwegian cross-country skier. Career He competed in the 30 km and 50 km events at the 1960 and 1964 Winter Olympics with the best result of fifth place in the 5 ...

and

Tormod Knutsen Tormod Kåre Knutsen (7 January 1932 – 23 February 2021) was a Norwegian Nordic combined skier, who won the Nordic combined event at the 1964 Winter Olympics, and came second at the 1960 Winter Olympics. He won four national championships, an ...

). He was also awarded the

Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal The Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal ( sv, Svenska Dagbladets guldmedalj, but usually simply called ''Bragdguldet'', "The Feat Gold") is an annual award "for the most significant Swedish sports achievement of the year". It has been awarded by a jury l ...

in 1956 (shared with pentathlete

Lars Hall Lars Göran Ivar Hall (30 April 1927 – 26 April 1991) was a Swedish modern pentathlete who competed at the 1952 and 1956 Summer Olympics. He won the individual event at both Games and finished second with the Swedish team in 1952. In 1952 he ...

). Jernberg retired after the Olympic Winter Games of 1964. In 1965, the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swis ...

awarded Jernberg the Mohammed Taher Trophy for his contributions to Nordic skiing. He died of stroke at the age of 83.Sixten Jernberg, Cross-Country Skiing Champion, Dies at 83
AP via New York Times (16 July 2012) His nephew

Ingemar Ingemar is a given name. People with the name include: *Ingemar Backman (born 1976), Swedish professional snowboarder * Ingemar Burgström (1926–1951), Swedish flyweight boxer * Olai Ingemar Eikeland (1915–2003), Norwegian politician for the Ce ...

became an Olympic pole vaulter.

Cross-country skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).

Olympic Games

* 9 medals – (4 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze)

World Championships

* 6 medals – (4 gold, 2 bronze)

References

External links

* *
Holmenkollen medalists
– click Holmenkollmedaljen for downloadable pdf file
Holmenkollen winners since 1892
– click Vinnere for downloadable pdf file {{DEFAULTSORT:Jernberg, Sixten 1929 births 2012 deaths Deaths from cancer in Sweden People from Malung-Sälen Municipality Cross-country skiers from Dalarna County Cross-country skiers at the 1956 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 1960 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 1964 Winter Olympics Holmenkollen medalists Holmenkollen Ski Festival winners Olympic cross-country skiers of Sweden Swedish male cross-country skiers Vasaloppet winners Olympic medalists in cross-country skiing Olympic gold medalists for Sweden Olympic silver medalists for Sweden Olympic bronze medalists for Sweden FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in cross-country skiing Medalists at the 1956 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1960 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1964 Winter Olympics Lima IF skiers

Cross-country skiing results

Olympic Games

World Championships

See also

References

External links