Bente Skari

Bente Skari (née Martinsen; born 10 September 1972) is a Norwegian former cross-country skier. She is one of the most successful cross-country skiers ever.

Career She won her first Olympic medals in 1998, and won her first gold medal in the 2002 Winter Olympics, coming from behind to beat the favourites Olga Danilova and Julija Tchepalova in the last kilometers of the 10 km classical event. Skari was the first Norwegian woman to win an individual Olympic gold medal in cross-country skiing. She also won a bronze medal in 30 km classical as well as a silver medal in the relay.

Additionally, she won five gold medals (5 km: 1999, 10 km: 2001, 2003, and 15 km: 2001, 2003) from the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, as well as two silver (4 × 5 km relay: 1997, 2001) medals. She won the overall cross-country skiing World Cup four times before retiring after the 2003 season.

Skari also won the women's 30 km event at the Holmenkollen ski festival in 2003. In 2001, she received the Holmenkollen medal (shared with Adam Małysz and Thomas Alsgaard). Her father, Odd Martinsen, earned the Holmenkollen medal in 1969. They are the only father-daughter combination to ever win this prestigious honour.

In 1998, she won Tjejvasan.

After retirement In 2007, Skari was named as the first female race administrator in cross-country skiing. She assisted in the 2007-08 Tour de Ski, working as an assistant technical delegate in the events held in the Czech Republic. This is part of the Norwegian Ski Federation's effort to promote more women in management positions in skiing.

Cross-country skiing results All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).

Olympic Games 5 medals – (1 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze) Year Age 5 km 10 km 15 km Pursuit 30 km Sprint 4 × 5 km relay 1994 21 — 20 — — — 1998 25 Bronze 6 9 — Silver 2002 29 Gold — 6 Bronze — Silver

World Championships 7 medals – (5 gold, 2 silver) Year Age 5 km 10 km 15 km Pursuit 30 km Sprint 4 × 5 km relay 1995 22 — 13 — —— 1997 24 8 — 17 8 Silver 1999 26 Gold — 8 4 2001 28 Gold Gold 5 15Silver 2003 30 Gold Gold ———

a. Cancelled due to extremely cold weather.

World Cup Season titles 9 titles – (4 overall, 5 sprint)

Season standings

a. 5th in the Long Distance World Cup. 6th in the Middle Distance World Cup.

Individual podiums 42 victories 60 podiums

Team podiums 5 victories – (4 , 1 ) 23 podiums – (22 , 1 )

Note: Until the 1999 World Championships, World Championship races were included in the World Cup scoring system.

Overall record

a. Classification is made according to FIS classification. b. Includes individual and mass start races. c. Includes pursuit and double pursuit races. d. May be incomplete due to lack of appropriate sources for some relay races prior to 1995/96 World Cup season.

Note: Until 1999 World Championships and 1994 Olympics, World Championship and Olympic races are part of the World Cup. Hence results from those races are included in the World Cup overall record.

Personal life Bente Skari was named Martinsen before marrying Geir Skari in 1999. She is the mother of three children, Filip, Oda and Selma.