JOHANN OLAV KOSS

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'Johann Olav Koss' (born 29 October 1968 in Drammen, Norway) is a former speed skater, considered to be one of the best in history.

Contents

Biography

Medals

World records

Personal records

See also

References

Biography

Johann Olav Koss became the Norwegian Junior Champion in 1987, but he could not compete with the world top skaters in the 1986 and 1987 World Junior Championships. In 1988, he debuted with the seniors at the World Championships in Alma-Ata, but failed to qualify for the final distance. The following year, he finished eighth in the same tournament (after a fifteenth place in the European Allround Championships), placing second on the 1,500 m. His breakthrough came in 1990, winning the World Allround Championships in Innsbruck, Austria. The following four years, he would win two more world titles (1991 and 1994), while finishing second in 1993 and third in 1992. He won the European Allround Championships in 1991 and finished third in the next three editions. Koss had a total of twenty-three World Cup wins, while winning four overall World Cup titles (the 1,500 m in 1990 and 1991, and the combined 5,000/10,000 m in 1991 and 1994).
Koss made his Olympic debut at the 1992 Winter Olympics, finishing seventh on the 5,000 m, five days after undergoing surgery because of an inflamed pancreas. He would recover to win gold on the 1,500 m (by only 0.04 seconds over fellow countryman Ådne Søndrål) and silver on the 10,000 m (behind Dutch skater Bart Veldkamp).
In 1994, the final year of his speed skating career, Koss also gained fame outside the speed skating world by winning three gold medals at the 1994 Winter Olympics in his native Norway, winning all races in new world records, two of which would remain unbeaten until the clap skate era. For his performance, he was named ''Sports Illustrated'' magazine's Sportsman of the Year in 1994, together with Bonnie Blair. In addition, he received the Oscar Mathisen Award three times: in 1990, 1991, and 1994.
After his speed skating career, Koss trained as a physician. He became a UNICEF ambassador and a member of the International Olympic Committee (until 2002). He married Canadian businessperson and politician Belinda Stronach on 31 December 1999, but they divorced in 2003. Koss is now the CEO of the International Humanitarian Organisation, Right To Play. ''Right To Play'' uses sport and play as a tool for the development of children and youth in the most disadvantaged areas of the world.

Medals

An overview of medals won by Koss at important championships he participated in, listing the years in which he won each:

Championships	'Gold medal'	'Silver medal'	'Bronze medal'
Winter Olympics	1992 (1,500 m) 1994 (1,500 m) 1994 (5,000 m) 1994 (10,000 m)	1992 (10,000 m)	–
World Allround	1990 1991 1994	1993	1992
World Cup	1990 (1,500 m) 1991 (1,500 m) 1991 (5,000 m / 10,000 m) 1994 (5,000 m / 10,000 m)	1992 (1,500 m) 1992 (5,000 m / 10,000 m) 1993 (5,000 m / 10,000 m)	1990 (5,000 m / 10,000 m)
European Allround	1991	1992 1993 1994	–
Norwegian Allround	1991 1992 1993 1994	1989 1990	–
Norwegian Single Distance	1989 (1,500 m) 1989 (5,000 m) 1990 (1,500 m) 1990 (5,000 m) 1990 (10,000 m) 1991 (1,500 m) 1991 (5,000 m) 1991 (10,000 m) 1993 (1,000 m) 1993 (5,000 m) 1994 (1,500 m)	1989 (1,000 m) 1990 (1,000 m) 1992 (1,000 m) 1992 (5,000 m)	1988 (10,000 m) 1991 (1,000 m) 1992 (1,500 m) 1994 (5,000 m)

World records

Over the course of his career, Koss skated ten world records:

Event	Result	Date	Venue
3,000 m	3:57.52	13 March 1990	Heerenveen
5,000 m	6:41.73	9 February 1991	Heerenveen
10,000 m	13:43.54	10 February 1991	Heerenveen
Big combination	157.396	26 February 1991	Heerenveen
5,000 m	6:38.77	22 January 1993	Heerenveen
5,000 m	6:36.57	13 March 1993	Heerenveen
5,000 m	6:35.53	4 December 1993	Hamar
5,000 m	6:34.96	13 February 1994	Hamar
1,500 m	1:51.29	16 February 1994	Hamar
10,000 m	13:30.55	20 February 1994	Hamar

Personal records

To put these personal records in perspective, the ''WR'' column lists the official world records on the dates that Koss skated his personal records.

Event	Result	Date	Venue	WR
500 m	37.98	7 January 1994	Hamar	35.92
1,000 m	1:14.9	10 January 1993	Hamar	1:12.58
1,500 m	1:51.29	16 February 1994	Hamar	1:51.60
3,000 m	3:57.52	13 March 1990	Heerenveen	3:59.27
5,000 m	6:34.96	13 February 1994	Hamar	6:35.53
10,000 m	13:30.55	20 February 1994	Hamar	13:43.54
Big combination	157.257	9 January 1994	Hamar	156.882

Koss was number one on the Adelskalender, the all-time allround speed skating ranking, for a total of 1,998 days, divided over three periods between 1992 and 1997. He has an Adelskalender score of 155.099 points.

See also

★ Right To Play

References

★ Johann Olav Koss at SkateResults.com

★ Personal records from Jakub Majerski's Speedskating Database

★ Evert Stenlund's Adelskalender pages