Laila Schou Nilsen

Laila Schou Nilsen was a Norwegian all-round sportswoman, born on 18 March 1919 in Grefsen, Oslo, and many regard her as the greatest woman athlete in Norwegian sporting history. She excelled in ski jumping, cross-country skiing, alpine skiing, tennis, speed skating and handball, and she even took part in the Monte Carlo Rally four times. At fifteen she won an unofficial speed skating world title in Oslo and broke the world record over 500 metres. After switching to alpine skiing she won the bronze medal in the combined event at the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. In 1937 she won all four distances at the speed skating World Championships in Davos, and she returned to the Olympic alpine skiing field in 1948. By the end of her career in 1961 she had won 101 national championship titles. She died in Lanzarote on 30 July 1998.