Sixten Jernberg

Sixten Jernberg was a Swedish cross-country skier, born Edy Sixten Jernberg on 6 February 1929 and widely counted among the most successful cross-country skiers of all time. Between 1952 and 1964 he took part in 363 ski races, finished on the podium in 263 and won 134 of them, and in that period he won four world titles and nine Olympic medals. He specialised in the longer distances and won the 50 km, the 30 km and the 4 x 10 km relay at the Olympic Games, and twice won the Vasaloppet, in 1955 and 1960. A blacksmith and lumberjack before he took up the sport, he was awarded the Holmenkollen medal in 1960 and the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal in 1956, retired after the 1964 Winter Games and died in 2012.