Berit Aunli
Berit Kristine Aunli is a Norwegian former cross-country skier. She is a World and Olympic champion and won a total of 15 Norwegian titles.
Personal life
Aunli has five siblings. Her father, Kristen Kvello, was a Norwegian cross-country skiing champion and a former national coach.She was inspired by fellow cross-country skier Berit Mørdre and marathon runner Grete Waitz. She met her future husband, Ove Aunli, while skiing when she was 15. They married in 1979 and have a son, Odd. A statue of the two of them was erected in Kyrksæterøra in June 2023.
Career
Aunli began training seriously in 1975 and competed in her first senior season in 1976, when she was 18. At the 1976 Winter Olympics, she placed 17th in Cross-country skiing at the [1976 Winter Olympics – Women's 5 kilometre|the women's 5 km] and 18th in the women's 10 km.At the FIS [Nordic World Ski Championships 1978|1978 World Championships], she placed 6th in both the 10 km and 20 km events, the best result of the Norwegian women. She became pregnant that year, and her husband received death threats as he was viewed as "ruining" her promising career. Aunli's pregnancy ended in a miscarriage, which she found mentally difficult.
She won her first international championship medal as a member of the Norwegian team that won the bronze medal at the 4 × 5 km relay at the 1980 Winter Olympics. However, she performed much more poorly in her individual events due to illness, and she was criticized for this in Norwegian newspapers.
Aunli had originally intended to retire after the 1980 Olympics, but she continued to compete after being disappointed in her performance there. Her real international breakthrough came at the 1982 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, where her father was an announcer. She won three gold medals in the 5 km, 10 km and 4 × 5 km relay races, in addition to a silver medal in the 20 km classic, where she was beaten by Raisa Smetanina by 3.4 seconds. She also became the first winner of an official Cross-Country World Cup after her overall victory in the 1981–82 FIS Cross-Country World Cup.
She took the 1983 season off as she wanted a break from competing and to have a child. Six weeks after giving birth to her son, she began skiing again. That year, she was awarded the Holmenkollen medal.
At the 1984 Winter Olympics|1984 Winter Olympics] in Sarajevo, she won two medals: gold in the 4 × 5 km relay and silver in 5 km.
She won a silver in the 4 × 5 km relay at the 1985 World Championships. In her individual events, she finished twice in 4th place and once in 6th. That year, she was awarded Morgenbladet's gold medal.
Over her career, she won a total of 15 Norwegian Championships titles, 11 individual and 4 relays. She represented the club Strindheim IL.
Aunli was critical of media coverage of skiers during her career. She felt the press criticism of the older Norwegian women who competed with her at the 1976 Olympics, who did not have as good of results as the Soviet and Finnish skiers, was unduly harsh. She also thought that Norwegians did not take women's cross-country skiing seriously until the early 1980s, when they were highly successful at the World Championships. In a 1986 interview, she recalled examples of a race being advertised as starting when the men's event began, after all the women had competed, as well as letters to the editor in Adresseavisen in 1980 debating whether women should compete at all. Aunli also said that girls had received less support from the Norwegian Ski Federation than boys, though she added, "Today we are treated equally".
Cross-country skiing results
All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation .Olympic Games
- 3 medals –
| Year | Age | 5 km | 10 km | 20 km | 4 × 5 km relay |
| 1976 | 19 | 17 | 18 | 5 | |
| 1980 | 23 | Cross-country skiing at the [1980 Winter Olympics – Women's 5 kilometre|14] | 13 | Bronze | |
| 1984 | 27 | 1984 Winter Olympics – Women's 5 kilometre|Silver] | 4 | — | Gold |
World Championships
- 5 medals –
| Year | Age | 5 km | 10 km | 20 km | 4 × 5 km relay |
| FIS Nordic [World Ski Championships 1978|1978] | 21 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 5 |
| 1980 | 23 | 7 | |||
| 1982 | 25 | Gold | Gold | Silver | Gold |
| 1985 | 28 | 4 | 6 | 4 | Silver |
World Cup
Season standings
Individual podiums
- 4 victories
- 10 podiums
| No. | Season | Date | Location | Race | Level | Place | |||||||||
| 1 | 1981–82 | 15 January 1982 |  Team podiums
|
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