Sondre Norheim
Sondre Norheim  
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 Photo from around 1880 |
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| Full name | Sondre Auersen Norheim |
| nation |
 Norway
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| birthday | June 10, 1825 |
| place of birth |
Morgedal , Norway
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| date of death | March 9, 1897 |
| Place of death |
Denbigh , United States
|
| Career | |
|---|---|
| discipline |
Ski jumping Alpine skiing |
Sondre Auersen Norheim (born June 10, 1825 in Morgedal , Norway , † March 9, 1897 in Denbigh , United States ) was the pioneer of modern skiing .
The farmer's son grew up in the Norwegian region of Telemark and is considered to be one of the best downhill skiers and jumpers of his time, both in terms of his talent and the level of development of his equipment. He is considered to be the inventor of the cable ski binding and developed his own wooden skis. These can now be admired in the Morgedal Ski Museum . In 1868, at the age of 42 , Norheim won Norway's first national ski competition in Høydalsmo , beating his younger opponents by a large margin. During his active time, he already reached a distance of 30.5 meters when jumping. He also excelled as an organizer of ski competitions.
Norheim also enjoys the reputation of the founder of the so-called Telemark style , a ski technique whose striking appearance is the lunge and whose turn initiation is based on an alternating step of the legs. This swing technique was given the name "Telemark" in 1888 by the residents of the capital Christiania, today's Oslo , when they were defeated in a ski competition on the "Huseby Hill" against a student of Norheim, Torjus Hemmesveit , so it was confused with the Avoid swing technique from Christiania (parallel swing).
In 1884, Norheim emigrated with his family to the United States and spent the last years of his life in North Dakota . Although skiing is out of the question in the flat prairie landscape , tradition has it that he always had a pair of skis on his doorstep.
After the turn of the century, the Telemark style was forgotten again in many places. But in the 1970s, members of the Skipatrols' first aid organization (similar to Mountain Rescue ) in Crested Butte , Colorado , remembered this versatile technique and extremely light equipment that was perfectly suited for their purposes. Starting from Crested Butte, the telemark technique experienced a renaissance that continues to this day.
Norheim is the namesake of Sondre , the official mascot of the 1994 Winter Paralympics in Lillehammer .
Web links
- Website of the Norwegian journalists Anne-Gry Blikom and Eivind Molde about Sondre Norheim (English)
- Telemark-Online.de
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Norheim, Sondre |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Norheim, Sondre Auersen |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Pioneer of modern skiing |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 10, 1825 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Morgedal , Norway |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 9, 1897 |
| Place of death | Denbigh , North Dakota , United States |