Athlete profile: Thomas Alsgård

Posted: Tue February 3, 1998 at 5:00 PM ET

Athlete notes

Picture this: at the 1995 World Championships in Thunder Bay, Canada, Alsgård was preparing for the 50km race, when -- just minutes before the start -- he looked down at his skis and realized he had brought his warm-up skis..."That was by far my biggest disappointment ever," says Alsgård. "I was in top form and expected to have a good race -- and then to not have my race skis. I finished something like 20 minutes behind"...it was not the first time Alsgård had problems at the starting line, but it was probably the last...when Alsgård was three-years old, he entered his first race -- a race for five-year-olds...but when race officials told Alsgård that he was too young to compete, the little Alsgård began crying and crying and crying until they finally gave in...but that was not the end of the episode...the race had individual starts and Alsgård thought he had to cross the finish line first to win, even though he started in ninth position..."I thought I had to pass everybody, but they were actually timing us individually," Alsgård explains, "so when I finished, I cried and cried again. It's more serious when you are young, than when you are old, I think"...unknown to him at the time, Alsgård actually won the race -- it was a harbinger of things to come...in the Lillehammer Games, Alsgård was the gold-medalist in the 30km freestyle..."You can imagine what winning the gold is like," says Alsgård. "It was incredible, fantastic. I was going for a top-10 finish, so I was really quite surprised"...where does Alsgård keep his medals?..."It is in a drawer somewhere. It's not the medals that count it's the memories"...while his Olympic triumph meant a lot, last year's third-place finish in the 30km freestyle at the Worlds in Trondheim meant even more..."I was out for six weeks in November and December with a viral sickness," he says. "To get third place only two months after being sick was a huge success. I overcame a lot and that made it better than the Olympics"...he also placed fourth in the 15km Pursuit...Alsgård's sickness kept his overall World Cup ranking down last year and he also did not fare well at the Olympic test Events, barely cracking the top 15 in each race...last year was the second time Alsgård has had health problems - he was dogged by the same virus at the 1993 World Championships in Falun...but if he can stay healthy, Alsgård looks formidable after strong off-season preparations and especially since the premier distance Events -- the 50km -- will be freestyle at these Olympics..."I prefer that to classic," he says. "When freestyle came, I was very young. At that time, most people learned it rather quickly. I've always been a little better at freestyle"...Norwegian national team coach, Erik Roste (ROH-stuh), considers Alsgård one of the world's best freestylers..."Even someone like Bjorn Daehlie can learn from Alsgård, who is a very strong skater"...Alsgård trains regularly with Daehlie and they are good friends...after the Olympics, Alsgård moved from Enebakk to Nannestad and now lives just 200 meters from the Norwegian cross-country legend...in his free time Alsgård loves to keep active..."I love doing things outdoors and I hate staying still"...he says he does things like climbing, golfing, tennis and hunting...he also likes to windsurf off of Norway's picturesque west coast...as for Nagano, he will think about the Olympics when the time comes..."Nagano is a very tough course. It suits the guys who are in the best shape, so preparation is very important. But for now I am preparing as I normally do"...Thomas's father, Per, is a policeman in Oslo...Alsgård speaks pretty good English...