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Björn Ferry

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Björn Ferry (born 1 August 1978 in Stensele, Storuman, Västerbotten) is a former Swedish biathlete and medal winning Olympian. He began competing internationally in World Cup competitions in 2001, but did not win his first international race until the 2007–2008 season. In 2007, he won gold in the mixed relay event at the Biathlon World Championships. The next year, at his third Winter Olympics appearance, he won the gold medal in the pursuit event. He started the event in 8th place as determined by the previous sprint event, but managed to overtake the race leader on the final lap.

Björn Ferry
Björn Ferry during World Cup competitions in Pokljuka, Slovenia in March 2014.
Personal information
Full nameBjörn Ferry
Born (1978-08-01) 1 August 1978 (age 46)
Stensele, Sweden
Height1.94 m (6 ft 4 in)
Websitebjornferry.com
Professional information
SportBiathlon
World Cup debut6 December 2001
Retired23 March 2014
Olympic Games
Teams4 (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014)
Medals1 (1 gold)
World Championships
Teams11 (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013)
Medals3 (1 gold)
World Cup
Seasons13 (2001/02–2013/14)
Individual victories7
All victories9
Individual podiums22
All podiums31
Medal record
Men's biathlon
Representing  Sweden
International biathlon competitions
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Olympic Games 1 0 0
World Championships 1 1 1
Total 2 1 1
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2010 Vancouver 12.5 km pursuit
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2007 Antholz-Anterselva Mixed relay
Silver medal – second place 2012 Rupholding 15 km mass start
Bronze medal – third place 2010 Khanty-Mansiysk Mixed relay

Career

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Ferry debuted in the World Cup in Hochfilzen in 2001, and earned his first World Cup points after only skiing three races. He finished his first season ranked 36th in World Cup standings. In World Cup competition, he slowly improved his ranking, and by the 2006–2007 season was ranked in the top ten worldwide. His first Olympic appearance, at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, was disappointing, but four years later at the 2006 Games in Turin, Italy he was a member of a Swedish relay team that placed fourth, just off the medal stand.[1]

Ferry has seen some of his strongest efforts and best finishes in Italy, even beyond the 2006 success. His first two World Cup victories both came in the pursuit in Antholz-Anterselva, in the 2007–2008 and 2008–2009 seasons. In 2007, he won a gold medal in the mixed relay in the 2007 World Championships alongside Helena Jonsson, Anna Carin Olofsson, and Carl Johan Bergman. Although his 2009–2010 season was lackluster, and Ferry saw his ranking drop from 9th to 16th place in the World Cup, Ferry was again selected for the Swedish team for the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In the pursuit event held on February 16, Ferry finished in first place, winning the gold medal after catching and passing the race leader on the final lap of the race.[1] He beat second-place finisher Christoph Sumann of Austria by only 16.5 seconds. The victory marked the first Olympic biathlon gold for a Swedish athlete in a half-century.[2]

Ferry practices with the Storuman IK club. His personal coach was German Wolfgang Pichler[1] until Pichler left his role as coach of the Swedish biathlon team in 2010. He subsequently described the atmosphere in the team under Pichler as being like a cult, although he praised Pichler for the energy he brought to the role.[3]

In March 2014, Ferry confirmed that he would be retiring from the sport at the end of the 2013–14 season.[4]

Opposition to doping

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Ferry has been outspoken in his opposition to the use of banned substances by athletes who participate in international competition, a practice known as doping. In 2009, he was quoted referring to Russian athletes who had used such substances as 'idiots' and received a number of death threats.[citation needed] During the 2010 winter Olympics, he was quoted saying he would not mind if athletes who use banned substances would get the death penalty or, "at least lots of kicks in the balls."[5][6] Further comments referred to dopers as people with low moral standards and suggested that the problem of use of banned substances in sport would not go away until more severe penalties were imposed.

Personal life

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Ferry is married to arm wrestler Heidi Andersson, who has won multiple world championships in arm wrestling.[2][7] In November 2017, he announced he'd given up flying because of the environment.[8]

In March and April 2018, SVT aired programme series Storuman Forever, depicting the Heidi Andersson and Björn Ferry couple's climate engagement.[9][10]

Flygskam, translating as ‘Flight Shame’, or ‘Flight Conscience’, a social pressure not to fly because of the rising greenhouse gas emissions of the airline industry, was originally championed by Björn Ferry but has since gained considerable momentum after Greta Thunberg’s refusal to fly on environmental grounds. Sweden has reported a 4% drop in domestic travel for 2019 and a 9% increase in rail use. The BBC claims that the movement could halve the growth of global air travel, but Airbus and Boeing claim that it will continue to grow at around 4% until 2035.[11][12]

Biathlon results

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All results are sourced from the International Biathlon Union.[1]

Olympic Games

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1 medal (1 gold)

Event Individual Sprint Pursuit Mass start Relay Mixed relay
  2002 Salt Lake City 38th 17th 24th — 14th —
  2006 Turin 28th 13th 25th 18th 4th —
  2010 Vancouver 42nd 8th Gold 12th 4th —
  2014 Sochi 12th 25th 30th 12th 10th —
*Mass start was added as an event in 2006, with the mixed relay being added in 2014.

World Championships

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3 medals (1 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze)

Event Individual Sprint Pursuit Mass start Relay Mixed relay
  2002 Oslo Holmenkollen — — — 28th — —
  2003 Khanty-Mansiysk 32nd 43rd 36th — 7th —
  2004 Oberhof 31st DNF — — 6th —
  2005 Hochfilzen 52nd 17th 16th 18th 7th 13th
  2007 Antholz-Anterselva 14th 4th 22nd 15th 7th Gold
  2008 Östersund 27th 15th 18th 9th 6th 4th
  2009 Pyeongchang — 40th 31st — 9th —
  2010 Khanty-Mansiysk — — — — — Bronze
  2011 Khanty-Mansiysk 5th 23rd 10th 27th 4th 4th
  2012 Ruhpolding 48th 7th 11th Silver 16th 4th
  2013 Nové Město 5th 13th 9th 8th 11th 14th
*During Olympic seasons competitions are only held for those events not included in the Olympic program.
**The mixed relay was added as an event in 2005.

Individual victories

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7 victories (2 Sp, 4 Pu, 1 MS)

Season Date Location Discipline Level
2007–08
1 victory
(1 Pu)		 19 January 2008   Antholz-Anterselva 12.5 km pursuit Biathlon World Cup
2008–09
1 victory
(1 Pu)		 24 January 2009   Antholz-Anterselva 12.5 km pursuit Biathlon World Cup
2009–10
1 victory
(1 Pu)		 16 February 2010   Vancouver 12.5 km pursuit Winter Olympic Games
2010–11
2 victories
(1 Sp, 1 Pu)		 18 December 2010   Pokljuka 10 km sprint Biathlon World Cup
16 January 2011   Ruhpolding 12.5 km pursuit Biathlon World Cup
2013–14
2 victories
(1 Sp, 1 MS)		 6 March 2014   Pokljuka 10 km sprint Biathlon World Cup
9 March 2014   Pokljuka 15 km mass start Biathlon World Cup
*Results are from UIPMB and IBU races which include the Biathlon World Cup, Biathlon World Championships and the Winter Olympic Games.

Cross-country skiing results

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World Cup career
Seasons2000–2001
Indiv. starts5
Indiv. podiums0
Team starts3
Team podiums0
Overall titles0
Discipline titles0

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).[13]

World Cup

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Season standings

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 Season   Age  Season standings
Overall Long Distance Middle Distance Sprint
2000 22 NC NC NC —
2001 23 NC — — —

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Björn Ferry". IBU Datacenter. International Biathlon Union. Archived from the original on 6 February 2010. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
  2. ^ a b Agence France-Presse (2010-02-16). "Biathlon (Sprint): Sweden's Ferry wins men's 12.5km pursuit". Vancouver 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-02-17. Retrieved 2010-02-17.
  3. ^ Sundqvist, Lena; Antonsson, John (11 August 2010). "Ferry: "Det var som en sekt"" [Ferry: "It was like a cult"]. Sveriges Radio (in Swedish).
  4. ^ "Biathlon world to see some retirements after season's end". biathlon-pokljuka.com. 8 March 2014. Archived from the original on 17 March 2014. Retrieved 16 March 2014.
  5. ^ "Swedish Biathlon Star Bjorn Ferry on Doping: "Drug cheats should get the death penalty!"". Bild.com. 2010-02-15. Retrieved 2010-02-17.
  6. ^ [Original Swedish: "För mig får det gärna bli dödsstraff eller alla fall en upprepad pungspark för alla dopningsbrott", translated: "For me it's ok if it would be death penalty or at least a repeated kick on the balls for all doping crimes"]
  7. ^ Ferry, Björn. "Björnfakta" (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 2010-02-20. Retrieved 2010-02-17.
  8. ^ Robert Börjesson (21 November 2017). "Björn Ferry nobbar OS i Sydkorea för klimatet" (in Swedish). Expressen. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
  9. ^ "SVT1 2018-03-20" (in Swedish). Swedish Media Database. 20 March 2018. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
  10. ^ "SVT1 2018-04-17" (in Swedish). Swedish Media Database. 17 April 2018. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
  11. ^ Timperley, Jocelyn. "Why 'flight shame' is making people swap planes for trains". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 2020-01-13.
  12. ^ "Sweden's Flight Shame Is Having A Turbulent Effect On P... | 10 daily". 10daily.com.au. Retrieved 2020-01-13.
  13. ^ "FERRY Bjoern". FIS-Ski. International Ski Federation. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
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