WINTER OLYMPICS NORDIC COMBINED

OLYMPIC SPORT SINCE 1924

NORDIC COMBINED has its 5000 year-old roots in Norway. It involves ski jumping, which requires physical strength and technical control, and cross-country skiing which demands endurance and strength.

Nordic combined has been a part of every Olympic Winter Games. The individual event was contested at the first Games and has been a part of every one since. The team event was added in 1988 and the sprint event makes its debut at the Salt Lake City Games.

Norway has won the most total medals (24) and the most gold medals (11). In 1924, 1928, 1932 and 1936, the nation swept the medals in the individual event. Finland has the second-most medals with nine; East Germany has the second-most gold medals with three. It was not until 1960 that the Scandinavian grip on the Nordic combined was finally broken when West German Georg Thoma won the gold medal at Squaw Valley in 1960. The team event was introduced at the 1988 Calgary Games, with three athletes taking part; at Nagano the number was increased to four. There will be a new event at Salt Lake City, the individual Sprint competition in which athletes will jump (only one jump) from the large hill and then ski 7.5km.

COMPETITION
All three Nordic combined events consist of a ski jumping competition and a cross-country skiing competition. For the individual and team events, ski jumping takes place on the normal hill (90 metres). For the sprint event, ski jumping takes place on the large hill (120m). The cross-country portion of the individual event has a 15km race, the sprint event has a 7.5km race, and the team event has a 4x5km relay.

Individual
Each competitor in the individual event takes two normal hill jumps during the first day of competition. Each jump is scored for length and style. On the second and final day of competition, each competitor participates in the 15km cross-country event. The start order for this race is determined by the ski jumping results. The leader after the jumping portion will start first, with others starting according to the Gundersen Table

Sprint
The sprint event also is contested over two days, with the large-hill competition on the first day and the 7.5km cross-country race on the second day. Unlike in the individual and team events, the jumping portion of the sprint event is performed on the large hill and includes one jump instead of two. On the second and final day of competition, each competitor will compete in the 7.5km cross-country event. The start order for this race is determined on the basis of the ski jumping results. The leader after the jumping portion will start first, with others starting according to the Gundersen Table.

Team
Each team consists of four jumpers who take two jumps off the normal hill on the first day of competition. The team's score in the jumping portion is the total score of the eight jumps. The same skiers who participate in the jumping must compete in the 4x5km relay, which is held the day after the jumping portion of the team event. As in the individual and sprint events, the Gundersen Method is used to determine the start times in the relay. The winner is the team whose final skier crosses the finish line first, and each skier is timed to a tenth of a second.

VERIFIED FEB 19, 2002

	INDIVIDUAL	SPRINT	TEAM (4-MEN)
1924	Thorlief Haug, NOR
1928	Johan Grøttumsbråten, NOR
1932	Johan Grøttumsbråten, NOR
1936	Oddbjörn Hagen, NOR
1948	Heikki Hasu, FIN
1952	Simon Slattvik, NOR
1956	Sverre Stenersen, NOR
1960	Georg Thoma, FRG
1964	Tormod Knutsen, NOR
1968	Franz Keller, FRG
1972	Ulrich Wehling, GDR
1976	Ulrich Wehling, GDR
1980	Ulrich Wehling, GDR
1984	Tom Sandberg, NOR
1988	Hippolyt Kempf, SUI		West Germany (3-men)
1992	Fabrice Guy, FRA		Japan (3-men)
1994	Fred Boerre Lundberg, NOR		Japan (3-men)
1998	Bjarte Engen Vik, NOR		Norway
2002	Samppa Lajunen, FIN	Samppa Lajunen, FIN	Finland