Birger Ruud

The Norwegian Ski King, Birger Ruud, is dead.

Saturday 13th June 1998 we received the sad message that Birger Ruud is dead, 86 years old. He died at the hospital of his home town, Kongsberg.

Birger Ruud was born in Kongsberg 23th August 1911, og grew up in an unique sports milieu, where the keywords was sports and games. Several ov the persons in this milieu became famous ski-athletics, and most famous of them all was maybe Birger Ruud.

Birger had two brothers, Asbjørn and Sigmund Ruud, and this trio belongs to the most famous skiing names, not only in Norway, but in the entire world of skiing.

Merits in the Jumping Hill
Birger got Olympic Gold medal in skijumping in 1932 (look here and here) and in 1936 in Garmisch Partenkirchen 1936 (look here). 12 years later he took the Silver medal in St. Moritz, in 1948.

This last medal was the one he maybe set highest in his career, even if is companion Petter Hugsted took the Gold medal. Birger Ruud was also triple World Champion, in 1931, 1935 and 1937, and was number two in 1939. He became Norwegian Champion in 1939, was number two in 1937 and number three in 1940 and 1947.

He wan the most famous Norwegian skijumping competition, Holmenkollrennet, in 1934, was number three in 1937, and was number four three times. He also won the Finnish competition similar to Holmenkollen, Lathispelen, in 1939. He got the Holmenkollen Medal in 1937. Two times he set the World length records in skijumping, 76,5 meters in Odnesbakken, Norway, in 1931 and 92 meters in Planica in 1934.

Skiing Museum
Together with his friend Petter Hugsted Birger Ruud was active in raising the Skiing Museum in his hometown, Kongsberg. This museum contains an unique number of skiing history. It was opened in 1986, with the Norwegian King, Olav, among the guests.

Against the nazism
Skiing and skis was the whole life for Birger Ruud. I 1932 he took over his brothers, Sigmunds, agenture for Norwegian sports articles in Germany, where he became very famous. Men the relation to Germany was not without problems: When the Germans marched into Norway, he took a clear side. In 1941 he was disqualified from Norwegian sports forever because he left the sports union in protest against the increasing nazism in this union.

Later, he was arrested while participating in an illegal skiing competition in Norway, and sent to the Grini prison near Oslo. There he became a problem. He was a hero also in Germany, and the prison-guards(?) did not know how to handle this problem.

Sports Ambassador
After the second world war, he again started the work to raise the Norwegian sports. Therefore, the Silver Medal in St. Moritz was very welcome. Norway was again among the best in winter sports, and Birger Ruud could again do what he liked best: to become an ambassador for the joy of sports.

He was very engaged to get the young people follow his tracks, but he was also feared of the seriousness among the youngsters. He was very "many-sided". In the summer he trained diving into the water and gymnastics. In 1936, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, he won the downhill race in the alpine combination .

Olympic Games in Lillehammer
Under the Olympic Games in Lillehammer in 1994, he was planned to hoist the Norwegian flag, but he became sick and was forced to follow the games from the bed.

A legende
Birger Ruud was not only a skiing king. In 1985 he was choosed to become a legend in Braver Creek, Colorado. Among the guests was the former USA president Gerald Ford and the former Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeaux.

Rest in peace, Birger Ruud.
Veteranhopp-Norge.

Links to other pages about Birger Ruud:
Kongsberg Filatelistklubb

A Postcard
The Maxi-card

A Norwegian page about Birger Ruud

Birger Ruud