The Story of Anders Haugen: The Delayed Bronze Medal 

The American athlete competed in ski jumping at the first-ever Winter Olympics in 1924 in Chamonix. He took fourth place, but after 50 years, the fact of a referee’s error was proven, which allowed Anders Hogen to receive a bronze medal. This is the story of Anders Haugen: the first American with the Olympic skiing medal.

There is no other Olympian in the world who has waited so long for his medal. Anders Haugen is the first American Olympic medalist in ski jumping. But he officially received this status only 50 years after his medal performance.

Who IS Anders Haugen?

Andres was born in October 1888 in the small Norwegian town of Bo near Oslo, where, as a child, he began ski jumping with his brother Lars. When Hogen was 19 years old, he moved to the United States, where his brothers and sister had previously left. He first settled in Illinois and then moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In America, the Norwegian worked on a farm, mastered the profession of a bricklayer, but did not forget about sports. In Milwaukee, Anders joined the local ski club, which built a ski jump on Lake Nagawicka in 1910, aided in large part by Haugen’s extraordinary abilities. The first ski jumping competition was held in January 1913. Anders became their winner, and after that, he won the US championship several times.

The Story of Anders Haugen: America’s First Olympic Skiing Medal

The athlete’s successes led to the fact that he not only got into the US national team but also became its captain at the 1924 Olympics in Chamonix, and 1928 in St. Moritz. At both Olympics, he competed in ski jumping, and cross-country skiing. In Switzerland, the American athlete was far from medals. But in Chamonix in ski jumping, he stopped a step away from the podium, which became entirely Norwegian. Jacob Tullin Thams took the first place, the second – Narve Bonna. And the top three was closed by Torleif Haug, who won two gold medals in cross-country skiing in Chamonix. Anders Haugen had the longest jump. But during the landing, he made a mistake that dropped him only to fourth place.

At that time, no one expressed doubts about the correctness of the distribution of medals, although there were some. Haugen later admitted that he was confident in his bronze, but was forced to accept the final decision of the judges. “Protests and things like that weren’t common at the time. We took the places we got. I felt disappointed many times. But I tried not to think a lot about that episode, ”said Haugen, quoted by Skiing magazine.

Bronze Medal 5 Years After the Competition

50 years later, Toralf Stremstad, a participant in those competitions in Chamonix, drew the attention of sports historian Jakob Vaage to the fact that there were errors in the referees’ protocols. Vaage double-checked the information and made sure that the mark for the US representative was indeed incorrect. Fortunately, Anders Hogen was still alive by that time. In 1929, he moved with his brother to California, where he helped run the Lake Tahoe ski club. Until the age of 70, he directed the junior ski program. According to online sportsbook news in Norway, In 1974, the Norwegians organized his visit to their historical homeland, where 86-year-old Haugen was solemnly awarded a bronze Olympic medal. The award was presented by Anna Maria Haug Magnussen, daughter of Thorleif Haug, who died at the age of 40.

“If my father were alive, he would be very happy to pass this medal to you,” said daughter Haug, who hugged the new bronze medalist Chamonix-1924 tightly.

Anders Haugen: The Oldest Athlete with an Olympic Medal

If history had not been rewritten, then the United States would not have had a single Olympic medalist in ski jumping. Anders Haugen is still the only American athlete to win a medal in this sport at the Olympics. Anders Haugen officially became an Olympic medalist at a very old age but lived in this status for another 10 years. He died in 1984 of kidney failure, which developed in the presence of prostate cancer. But for the rest of his life, Anders was full of life. Haugen was still skiing near his home in the San Bernardino mountains until he was 91, according to the US Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame. So this was the story of Anders Haugen, he oldest athlete to receive a Winter Olympics medal. 

Check out the online sportsbook sites in Norway for the upcoming Winter 2022 Olympic Games. 1xBET Sportsbook has special bets for Top Gold Medals at the Beijing 2022. For Norway to win, 1xBET offers 1.35 and 3.5 for Germany. 

Click here to stay tuned with 1xbet Sportsbook