 Pernilla Wiberg in December 2011 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | (1970-10-15)15 October 1970 (age 55) Norrköping, Sweden | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Alpine skier | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.61 m (5 ft 3 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Skiing career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Disciplines | Downhill,super-G,giant slalom,slalom,combined | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Norrköpings SK | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Cup debut | 13 March 1990 (age 19) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Retired | March 2002 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | pernilla-wiberg.com | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Olympics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Teams | 4 –(1992-2002) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Medals | 3 (2 gold) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Championships | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Teams | 5 –(1991-2001) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Medals | 6 (4 gold) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| World Cup | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Seasons | 13 –(1990-2002) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wins | 24 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Podiums | 61 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Overall titles | 1 – 1997 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Discipline titles | 4 –SL (1997),K (1994, 1995, 1997) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Pernilla Wiberg (born 15 October 1970) is a Swedish formeralpine ski racer and businesswoman. She competed on theWorld Cup circuit between 1990 and 2002, where she became one of the fewall-event winners. Having won two Olympic gold medals, four World Championships and one World Cup overall title, she is one of the most successful alpine ski racers of the 1990s. On club level, she represented Norrköpings SK. She was born inNorrköping.[2]
After competing without much success in two junior world championships in 1987 and 1988, Wiberg got her international breakthrough in the early 1990s. In her World Cup debut inVemdalen, Sweden, on 13 March 1990, she finished 5th inslalom, and five days later she finished 3rd ingiant slalom inÅre. In the following season of 1991, she claimed three World Cup victories and a giant slalom gold medal at the1991 World Championships inSaalbach. Her Alpine World Championship gold was the first for a Scandinavian woman in 33 years.[3] Until the end of her career in 2002, Wiberg won an additional 21 World Cup races, earning her a total of 24 World Cup race victories, including at least one victory in each of the five different alpine disciplines. In fiveWorld Championships she won six medals: four gold, one silver, and one bronze.[2]
Her finest season was in1996–1997 when she won ten World Cup races and took the overall, slalom, and combined titles. She dethroned the previous years World Cup Overall winner Katja Seizinger by over 500 points. In the slalom discipline she was incredibly dominant, winning 5 races, finish second twice, and once each third and fourth, in that season's 9 World Cup slalom races. She won her first ever World Cup downhill in the World Cup finale weekend, making her one of the first women ever to win World Cup races in all 5 disciplines. She also led the World Cup Super-G standings until the final race, and needed only a 5th-place finish in the Super-G on World Cup finale weekend (with Gerg's 2nd-place finish) to secure the season Super-G title. Unfortunately on pace for a 2nd or 3rd-place finish and to easily reach this, she went off course, losing the season Super-G crystal globe toHilde Gerg. Wiberg considers the Super-G her second best event after the slalom and her favorite event to ski, but it is where she has had the most bad luck and disappointment through her 4th place in Lillehammer, mistakes at the 96 and 97 worlds, and highly unlucky loss of the Super-G season crystal globe in the 97 season.
Today, Wiberg comments alpine skiing forSveriges Television.[4]
Wiberg won thegiant slalom gold in the1992 Winter Olympics inAlbertville and the combination gold medal in1994 atLillehammer. At both of these Olympics, Wiberg was the most successful Swedish athlete.[5] In1998 inNagano, she won thedownhill silver medal; Wiberg holds this achievement to be the best of her career.[6] In her final Olympics in2002 at age 31, she failed to reach the top ten and finished 14th in downhill and 12th insuper-G.[2] The Olympic super-G was to be her final international race, as she announced her retirement a few weeks later, following surgery on her knees.[7]
In 1991, Wiberg was awarded theSvenska Dagbladet Gold Medal. The jury's motivation was: "For the sensational giant slalom victory in the World Championships, secured through a bold and skillful second leg."[8] The same year, 1991, she was awardedJerring Award, an award she received again the following year.[9]
Wiberg was elected a member of theInternational Olympic Committee in 2002 and served an eight-year mandate until 2010. She was a member of the following commissions: Athletes’ (2002–), Sport and Environment (2002), Ethics (2003–), Coordination for the XXI Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver in 2010 (2003–), Nominations (2003–).[10] On 2 September 2008, IOC announced that Wiberg would chair acommission appointed by the president of IOC,Jacques Rogge. The commission would analyse the projects of the shortlisted cities candidating for 1st WinterYouth Olympic Games.[11]
Pernilla is today a member of the ‘Champions for Peace’ club, a group of 114 (as of 29 November 2018) famous elite athletes committed to serving peace in the world through sport, created byPeace and Sport, aMonaco-based international organization.[12]OtherChampions for Peace members include Ukrainian former pole vaulter,Sergey Bubka, British long-distance runner,Paula Radcliffe, and Serbian tennis player,Novak Djokovic.
Together with her husband Bødvar Bjerke, Wiberg has two children; Axel (b. 2003) and Sofia (b. 2007).[13][14] Since 1995, she lives inMonaco.[6]
As a businesswoman she owns and runs thePernilla Wiberg Hotel atIdre Fjäll [sv] inDalarna, Sweden.[15]
5 titles (1 overall, 1slalom, 3combined)
| Season | Discipline |
|---|---|
| 1994 | Combined |
| 1995 | Combined |
| 1997 | Overall |
| Slalom | |
| Combined |
| Season | Age | Overall | Slalom | Giant slalom | Super-G | Downhill | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 19 | 45 | 17 | — | — | — | — |
| 1991 | 20 | 7 | 2 | 3 | — | — | — |
| 1992 | 21 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 28 | — | — |
| 1993 | 22 | 24 | 11 | 17 | 30 | 43 | — |
| 1994 | 23 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 5 | 11 | 1 |
| 1995 | 24 | 6 | 2 | 38 | 13 | 12 | 1 |
| 1996 | 25 | 8 | 3 | 34 | 19 | 10 | — |
| 1997 | 26 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 1 |
| 1998 | 27 | 35 | 24 | 28 | 36 | 29 | 11 |
| 1999 | 28 | 5 | 2 | 22 | 8 | 14 | — |
| 2000 | 29 | 33 | 28 | 41 | 21 | 22 | — |
| 2001 | 30 | 59 | — | — | 23 | 48 | — |
| 2002 | 31 | 23 | — | 57 | 13 | 10 | 12 |
24 race victories (2downhill, 3Super-G, 2giant slalom, 14slalom, 3combined)[16]
| Season | Date | Location | Race |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 7 January 1991 | Bad Kleinkirchheim, Austria | Slalom |
| 10 March 1991 | Lake Louise, Canada | Giant slalom | |
| 20 March 1991 | Waterville Valley, U.S. | Slalom | |
| 1992 | 28 February 1992 | Narvik, Norway | Giant slalom |
| 1993 | 6 December 1992 | Steamboat Springs, USA | Slalom |
| 1994 | 12 December 1993 | Veysonnaz, Switzerland | Slalom |
| 6 January 1994 | Morzine, France | Slalom | |
| 17 January 1994 | Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy | Super-G | |
| 5 February 1994 | Sierra Nevada, Spain | Combined | |
| 1995 | 12 March 1995 | Lenzerheide, Switzerland | Slalom |
| Combined | |||
| 1996 | 22 December 1995 | Veysonnaz, Switzerland | Slalom |
| 29 December 1995 | Semmering, Austria | Slalom | |
| 1997 | 1 December 1996 | Lake Louise, Canada | Super-G |
| 28 December 1996 | Semmering, Austria | Slalom | |
| 4 January 1997 | Maribor, Slovenia | Slalom | |
| 12 January 1997 | Bad Kleinkirchheim, Austria | Super-G | |
| 19 January 1997 | Zwiesel, Germany | Slalom | |
| 2 February 1997 | Laax, Switzerland | Combined | |
| 7 March 1997 | Mammoth Mountain, U.S. | Slalom | |
| 12 March 1997 | Vail, U.S. | Downhill | |
| 16 March 1997 | Slalom | ||
| 1999 | 3 January 1999 | Maribor, Slovenia | Slalom |
| 2000 | 18 December 1999 | St. Moritz, Switzerland | Downhill |
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE | |||
| "Privilege"[17] | 1992 | 39 | Non-album singles |
