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unusual facts about Bjørn Wirkola


Bjørn Wirkola

He also competed at three Winter Olympics: in 1964 he finished eleventh in the Nordic combined, in 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, he achieved his best finish with a fourth place in the individual normal hill, 0.6 points behind the bronze medalist Baldur Preiml of Austria, and the 1972 Winter Olympics, where he finished 37th in the wind-ravaged event in the Okurayama large hill.


Jiří Raška

Czech writer Ota Pavel described his first jump in the normal hill event: "It was a beautiful flight in the infinite silence, that took short human age. Painter and editor Ota Mašek nearly fainted, photographer Jarda Skála stopped photographing. Coach Remsa was washing his face with snow and squeaking Norwegian Wirkola stopped squeaking." Raška jumped 79 metres, which was less than Austrian Baldur Preiml, but thanks to better style he led after the first round.

Oddvar Saga

Already in 1963 the ski jumpers Torgeir Brandtzæg, Toralf Engan, Bjørn Wirkola, Hans Olav Sørensen and Thorbjørn Yggeseth were as good as ready, and one was looking for a sixth man on the team.


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