The coronation of the medal hunter

Although he was already a four-time world champion and had Olympic gold (in the 1992 Albertville super-G) under his belt, it was not until 16 January 2000 in Wengen that Kjetil André Aamodt crowned his career in alpine ski racing. After successes in the downhill, super-G, giant slalom and combined, the Norwegian finally won the slalom and thus all five World Cup disciplines, a feat only achieved by Marc Girardelli (LUX), Pirmin Zurbriggen (SUI) and Günther Mader (AUT) before him and Bode Miller (USA) after. “I've been working towards this for a long time. I'm very happy”, said the usually taciturn Norwegian.

In his career between 1992 and 2007, Aamodt won ‘only’ 21 World Cup races, but a total of 20 medals at the World Championships and Olympic Games. “I had more time between races at these events than in the World Cup - and I also took more risks”, said Aamodt, explaining his efficiency in the most important races.

In 2005, before he won his last Olympic victory in the super-G in Turin, all of his then 19 medals were stolen when his father's house was burgled. “They were drug users who needed money,” Aamodt recounted. Because the thieves were unable to turn the medals into money, he got them back in a roundabout way: “Today, the medals are in the Olympic Museum in Lillehammer.”