
Anja Sofia Tess Pärson (; born 25 April 1981) is a Swedish former
alpine skier. She is an Olympic gold medalist, seven-time gold medalist at the
World Championships, and two-time overall
Alpine Skiing World Cup champion. This included winning three gold medals in the
2007 World Championship in her native Sweden. She has won a total of 42 World Cup races.
Biography
Pärson was born in
Tärnaby, Sweden, and has
Sámi roots. Pärson was introduced to ski racing by her sister, Frida, and is now trained by her father, Anders. Her first World Cup race was a
giant slalom
Giant slalom (GS) is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding competitive discipline. It involves racing between sets of poles ("gates") spaced at a greater distance from each other than in Slalom skiing, slalom but less than in Super-G.
Giant sl ...
at the World Cup Finals at
Crans-Montana, Switzerland (on 15 March
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 Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...
). She qualified for that race as the new junior World Champion but only finished 25th in last place. She won her first World Cup race, a slalom at
Mammoth Mountain
Mammoth Mountain is a lava dome complex partially located in the town of Mammoth Lakes, California, in the Inyo National Forest of Madera County, California, Madera and Mono County, California, Mono counties. It is home to a large Mammoth Mounta ...
, California, in
December 1998 at age 17, and her first gold medal at
St. Anton, Austria, in
2001
The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...
. She clinched the silver medal in the giant slalom and the
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 receives ...
in the slalom at the
2002 Winter Olympics
The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 (; Gosiute dialect, Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; ; Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), were an international wi ...
, and added the gold in slalom plus two more bronze medals in downhill and combined in
2006 Winter Olympics
The 2006 Winter Olympics (), officially the XX Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February in Turin, Italy. This marked the second time Italy had hosted the Winter O ...
.
Pärson won the
Alpine Skiing World Cup overall title in
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
and
2005
2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...
. The latter title was won by the smallest margin ever, only 3 points over her fierce rival,
Janica Kostelić. Initially a slalom and giant slalom specialist, she won her first
super-G and
downhill races in March 2005 at
San Sicario
Sansicario (also spelled San Sicario) is a ''frazione'' of the ''comune'' of Cesana Torinese (Metropolitan City of Turin) in Piedmont, north-western Italy.
It lies at in the Val Susa and has a population of 93 people. It is a famous winter tou ...
, Italy, during the pre-Olympic competitions. In total, she has won 42 World Cup races in all five disciplines.
Pärson has won seven gold medals in the
FIS Alpine World Ski Championships
The FIS Alpine World Ski Championships is an alpine skiing competition organized by the International Ski Federation (FIS).
History
The inaugural world championships in alpine skiing were held in 1931. It consisted of Downhill (ski competition), ...
, in 2001 (slalom), 2003 (giant slalom), 2005 (giant slalom, super-G) and 2007 (super-G, super combined, downhill). These go along with two silver and three bronze medals in other events in 2001, 2005, 2007 and 2011. With her three gold medals in 2007 at
Ã…re
Åre () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and one of the leading Scandinavian ski resorts situated in Åre Municipality, Jämtland County, Sweden with 3,200 inhabitants in 2018. It is, however, not the seat of the municipality, which is Järpe ...
, Sweden, she became the first skier in history to win World Championship golds in all five disciplines.
Pärson has earned a total of 17 individual medals in World Championships and Olympics, exceeding the record by
Christl Cranz in women's alpine skiing. In men's alpine skiing this achievement has been beaten only by
Kjetil André Aamodt
Kjetil André Aamodt (born 2 September 1971) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Norway, a champion in the Olympics, World Championships, and World Cup. He is one of the most successful alpine ski racers from Norway.
Biography
Born ...
, with 20. After two disappointing seasons (
2006/07 and
2007/08 where she finished fifth and sixth in the overall cup), she was back to her best over the
2008/09 season, finishing third in the overall cup.
At the
2010 Winter Olympics
The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...
, while trying to chase down eventual downhill champion
Lindsey Vonn
Lindsey Caroline Vonn ( ; born October 18, 1984) is an American FIS Alpine Ski World Cup, World Cup Alpine skiing, alpine ski racer. She won four World Cup overall championships – third amongst female skiers to Annemarie Moser-Pröll and Mika ...
of the United States, Pärson lost her balance on the last jump before the finish, resulting in a 60-metre flight and subsequent fall, without however suffering serious injury. She recovered from the fall and one day later won the bronze medal in the combined event.
With a downhill victory in March 2011, she has won at least one race for ten consecutive World Cup seasons, trailing only
Alberto Tomba and
Vreni Schneider who won races in eleven consecutive World Cup seasons, and equalling the mark of
Renate Götschl,
Ingemar Stenmark and
Mikaela Shiffrin.
On 12 March 2012, Pärson officially announced her retirement, and that her last competition would be the World Cup final in
Schladming the coming weekend.
In 2014 she became an expert commentator for
Viasat during the
2014 Winter Olympics in
Sochi
Sochi ( rus, Сочи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg, from – ''seaside'') is the largest Resort town, resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi (river), Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Souther ...
.
As of 2015, Pärson works as a sports expert for the broadcaster
Sveriges Television
Sveriges Television AB ("Sweden's Television aktiebolag, Stock Company"), shortened to SVT (), is the Sweden, Swedish national public broadcasting, public television broadcaster, funded by a public service tax on personal income set by the Riksd ...
,
in addition to running a company with her wife.
Pärson competes in the celebrity dance show
Let's Dance 2017 broadcast on
TV4.
Personal life
Pärson's athletics club is
Fjällvinden,
Tärnaby, the same to which skiing legend
Ingemar Stenmark and
Stig Strand belonged.
Her height is 170 cm (5 ft 7 in). She was awarded the
Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal in 2006 and in 2007.
After living several years in Monaco during her sports career, she returned to Sweden and has lived in
Umeå
Umeå ( , , , locally ; ; ; ; ) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County.
Situated on the Ume River, Umeå is the largest Urban areas in Sweden, locality in Norrland and the t ...
since 2012.
In June 2012, Pärson announced on the
Swedish radio program ''
Sommar'' that she has been in a relationship with a woman, Filippa Rådin, for the past five years, and that they are expecting a child together. Their son, Elvis, was born on 4 July 2012. On 2 August 2014, Anja Pärson and Filippa married in Umeå, Sweden. Former
Swedish Social Democratic Party
The Swedish Social Democratic Party, formally the Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party ( , S or SAP), usually referred to as The Social Democrats ( ), is a social democratic political party in Sweden. The party is member of the Progressiv ...
leader
Mona Sahlin officiated at the wedding. In January 2015, the couple announced that Pärson was pregnant with their second child,
[ a boy named Maximilian who was born in May 2015.
]
World Cup results
Season standings
Season titles
7 titles (2 overall, 3 GS, 1 SL, 1 SC)
Individual races
42 wins (6 DH, 4 SG, 11 GS, 18 SL, 3 SC)
World Championship results
Olympic results
References
External links
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Tänk det onämnbara. Tänk fem guld
World Cup standings at the International Ski Federation
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Parson, Anja
1981 births
Swedish female alpine skiers
Alpine skiers at the 2002 Winter Olympics
Alpine skiers at the 2006 Winter Olympics
Alpine skiers at the 2010 Winter Olympics
Olympic alpine skiers for Sweden
Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics
Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics
Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics
Olympic medalists in alpine skiing
Olympic gold medalists for Sweden
Olympic silver medalists for Sweden
Olympic bronze medalists for Sweden
FIS Alpine Ski World Cup champions
Swedish lesbian actresses
Swedish lesbian sportswomen
Swedish LGBTQ broadcasters
Swedish Sámi sportspeople
Sámi actors
Swedish women radio presenters
Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Monaco
People from Tärnaby
Skiers from Västerbotten County
Living people
LGBTQ skiers
21st-century Swedish LGBTQ people
Sámi LGBTQ people
21st-century Swedish sportswomen
Sámi women
Tärna IK Fjällvinden skiers