page_title: Marit Bjørgen
section_title: Olympics
hierarchical_section_title: Marit Bjørgen / Olympics
caption_attribution_description: English: Marit Bjørgen celebrates Olympic gold after the sprint competition in Whistler 2010.
context_page_description: Marit Bjørgen is a retired Norwegian cross-country skier. She is ranked first in the all-time Cross-Country World Cup rankings with 114 individual victories. Bjørgen is also the most successful sprinter in Cross-Country World Cup history, with 29 victories. She headed the medal table at the 2010 Winter Olympics by winning five medals, including three gold. A five-time Olympian, her five Olympic medals at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games brought her total number of medals up to a record 15, the most by any athlete in Winter Olympics history.
  On 6 April 2018, Bjørgen announced her retirement from cross–country skiing following the 2017–18 season.
context_section_description: Bjørgen had a disappointing Winter Olympics in Turin. She suffered from bronchitis a week before the games started and was prescribed antibiotics, then in the first race of the games, the 7.5 km + 7.5 km double pursuit, Bjørgen withdrew during the classic phase complaining of an upset stomach. In the next event, the team sprint, Bjørgen and Hilde G. Pedersen came fourth, and despite winning a silver in the 10 km, the remainder of the games went poorly for her. The next event was the 4 × 5 km relay, where Bjørgen took the anchor leg and finished in fifth place, the first time since 1988 that Norway had failed to reach the podium in the women’s relay. In the individual sprint, Bjørgen failed to make the semi finals, and both Bjørgen and Pedersen decided not to compete in the 30 km and returned home to Norway. Afterwards she was quoted as saying she was "sick and tired of Pragelato and OL (Olympic games)".
  However Bjørgen recovered to win the 45 km Vasaloppet from Oxberg to Mora on 4 March, eight days after the end of the Winter Olympics. Bjørgen broke away with Hilde Pedersen and Vibeke Skofterud after only 10 km, but Skofterud could not keep up with the pace and fell back, and Bjørgen powered away from Pedersen with a few kilometres left, winning in a time of 2:17:53, 1:22 ahead of Pedersen and 3:23 ahead of Petra Majdič of Slovenia. Winning a purse of 88,000 SEK and also winning two of the three sprints during the race to add another 10,000 SEK. Then three days later on 7 March, Bjørgen finished second in the individual sprint event in Borlänge, Sweden.
  In the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Bjørgen finished third in the 10 km freestyle event, before winning her first Olympic gold medal in the sprint. In the sprint she was up against a very strong field, consisting of Petra Majdič of Slovenia who had taken a serious fall earlier in the day during qualification, and Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland who was leading the overall World Cup standings coming into the race. Bjørgen won her second gold in the 2 x 7.5-kilometre on 19 February 2010. Bjørgen was also part of the 4 × 5 km relay team that won gold on 25 February 2010, finishing with enough time to cross the line with a large Norwegian flag given to her by a spectator near the finish, and jumping over the finish line. She closed out her trip in Vancouver by taking silver 0.3 seconds behind Poland's Justyna Kowalczyk in the women's 30 km event.
  Bjørgen won gold at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi in the 15 km skiathlon, the Team sprint and the 30km freestyle race. These three Olympic medals brought her total up to ten, equaling the record for most Winter Olympic medals held by a woman, already achieved by Stefania Belmondo and Raisa Smetanina; but of the three record holders at the time, Bjørgen had the most golds.
  Bjørgen is a five-time Olympian, having competed in every Winter Olympics since Salt Lake City in 2002 where she won her first silver medal. At the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang she won her 11th–15th Olympic medals, the highest number of medals won by any athlete in Winter Olympics history.
caption: Marit Bjørgen celebrates sprint gold at the 2010 Olympics
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