Ingemar Stenmark facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Ingemar Stenmark

Alpine skier
Stenmark in 2014
Club	Tärna IK Fjällvinden
Born	(1956-03-18) 18 March 1956 (age 69) Joesjö, Sweden
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Olympics
Teams	3
Medals	3 (2 gold)
World Championships
Medals	7 (5 gold)
World Cup
Seasons	16 (1974–1989)
Wins	86 (46 GS, 40 SL)
Podiums	155
Overall titles	3
Discipline titles	16
Medal record International alpine ski competitions Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 2 0 1 World Championships 5 1 1 World Cup standings podiums Event 1st 2nd 3rd Overall 3 6 0 Slalom 8 4 1 Giant 8 3 0 World Cup race podiums Event 1st 2nd 3rd Slalom 40 29 12 Giant 46 13 13 Parallel 0 1 0 Combined 0 0 1 Olympic Games Gold 1980 Lake Placid Giant slalom Gold 1980 Lake Placid Slalom Bronze 1976 Innsbruck Giant slalom World Championships Bronze 1976 Innsbruck Giant slalom Gold 1978 Garmisch Giant slalom Gold 1978 Garmisch Slalom Gold 1980 Wilmington Giant slalom Gold 1980 Wilmington Slalom Gold 1982 Schladming Slalom Silver 1982 Schladming Giant slalom

Jan Ingemar Stenmark (born 18 March 1956) is a famous Swedish former alpine ski racer. Many people think he is one of Sweden's greatest athletes ever. He won many Olympic medals and World Cups during his career. He held the record for the most international race wins for a long time. He competed for Tärna IK Fjällvinden.

About Ingemar Stenmark

Stenmark and Lindsey Vonn in 2016

Stenmark skiing in Alta Badia in 1986

Stenmark in 1979 at 23 years old

Ingemar Stenmark was born in Joesjö, Sweden. When he was four years old, his family moved to Tärnaby. This town is close to Norway.

He grew up next door to Stig Strand, who was also a skier. They were both born in 1956. In 1983, they even tied for the World Cup slalom title! Ingemar started skiing when he was five. He won his first national competition at just eight years old.

His Amazing Ski Career

Ingemar Stenmark first competed in the World Cup in December 1973. He was 17 years old. When he stopped competing in 1989, he had won 86 World Cup races. This was more than any other alpine skier at that time! He won 46 giant slaloms and 40 slaloms. Another skier, Mikaela Shiffrin, has since passed his record.

Ingemar was best at two types of skiing: slalom and giant slalom. These are called "technical" events. He did not often compete in other races like downhill or super-G. This was because he was not comfortable with very high speeds.

He holds a special record for the biggest win in a World Cup race. In 1979, he won a giant slalom race by 4.06 seconds! That's a huge lead over the second-place skier. Ingemar was known as a quiet champion. He was polite when reporters asked him questions.

Awards and Championships

Ingemar won the World Cup overall title three times in a row, from 1976 to 1978. For this, he received the Holmenkollen medal in 1979. He also won the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal twice. This award is for the best Swedish sports performance of the year. In 1978, he shared it with the famous tennis player Björn Borg. They are the only two men to win it twice.

At the World Championships in 1978, Ingemar won both the slalom and giant slalom races. He won the slalom by two-thirds of a second. He won the giant slalom by more than two seconds!

He won both of these world titles again at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, USA. These Olympic races also counted as World Championships.

In 1982, at the next World Championships, he won the slalom again. This made him the first skier to win the same title three times in a row. He also won a silver medal in the giant slalom that year. This was his last medal in a major competition. He was 25 years old.

Olympic Challenges

Ingemar Stenmark was not allowed to race in the 1984 Winter Olympics. This was because he had accepted money directly from sponsors. The rules said that money had to go through the national ski team. Another top skier, Hanni Wenzel, was also banned for the same reason.

He was allowed to compete in the 1988 Winter Olympics. By then, he was older and not at his peak. He did not win a medal, but he still had the fastest second run in the slalom race. He stopped competing in the World Cup in March 1989, just before his 33rd birthday.

Life After Skiing

From 1976 to 1978, Ingemar Stenmark and tennis star Björn Borg were huge heroes in Sweden. Ingemar moved to Monaco in 1980 for tax reasons. This did not change how much people admired him.

When he was 40, he won the Swedish Superstars championship in 1996. On December 26, 2004, Ingemar was on vacation in Thailand. He survived the big Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. In 2015, he was a celebrity dancer on the TV show Let's Dance 2015.

Personal Life

Ingemar Stenmark was married to Ann Uvhagen from 1984 to 1987. She was an airline hostess. They had a child together, born in 1984.

World Cup Results

Season Titles

Ingemar Stenmark won 19 World Cup titles in total:

• 3 overall titles
• 8 Giant Slalom titles
• 8 Slalom titles

Season Standings

World Championship Results

From 1948 through 1980, the Winter Olympics were also the World Championships for alpine skiing.
At the World Championships from 1954 through 1980, the combined was a "paper race" using the results of the three events (DH, GS, SL).

Olympic Results

• Stenmark and fellow reigning double Olympic champion Hanni Wenzel were banned from the 1984 Olympics for having accepted promotional payments directly, rather than through their national ski federations.

Other Honours

Ingemar Stenmark won the Jerring Award in 1979 and 1980.

See also

In Spanish: Ingemar Stenmark para niños