Soldier's Hollow in Heber City, 22 February 2002: Samppa LAJUNEN of Finland on his way to winning the gold in the men's 7.5km sprint nordic combined event during the Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games. Credit: Getty Images/Robert LabergeOther names: LAJUNEN, Samppa Kalevi
Born: 23 April 1979
Birthplace: Turku (Finland)
Nationality: Finland
Sport: Skiing
ATTENDANCE AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES
Nagano 1998
Salt Lake City 2002
AWARDS
Olympic medals:
Gold: 3
Silver: 2
Other results:
World Championships
Gold: 1 (99)
Silver: 4 (97, 99, 01)
Bronze: 3 (01, 03)
Sweeping the Nordic Combined
Samppa Lajunen entered his first cross-country race when he was only two years old. By the time he was five, he was skiing 300 miles a year. He added ski jumping to his pursuits when he was only 9 years old. In 1997, Lajunen, still only 17 years old, won the overall World Cup title in Nordic combined. The following year he earned silver medals at the Nagano Olympics in both the individual and team events. A third Nordic combined event, the sprint, was added for the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics and Lajunen took full advantage of the expanded program. In the individual event, Lajunen trailed teammate Jaako Tallus after the ski jump and gave up 53 seconds at the start of the 15km race. However he came from behind and won by 24.7 seconds. In the team event, Lajunen recorded the two best jumps of the competition and then anchored the Finnish team to victory. He earned a third gold medal in the sprint.
