Björn Ferry

Who Is Bjorn Ferry?

Bjorn Ferry is a Swedish athlete who is known for being a biathlete. He is a very skilled competitor and has won many races.

He is especially famous for winning gold medals in big competitions. This makes him a well known and respected athlete in his sport.

Early Life and Background

Bjorn Ferry was born on August 1, 1978.

Career and Claim to Fame

Bjorn Ferry is a former biathlete and Olympic champion. He started competing in World Cup competitions in 2001. He won his first international race in the 2007-2008 season.

He won gold in the mixed relay event at the Biathlon World Championships in 2007. In 2010, he won the gold medal in the pursuit event at the Winter Olympics. You can find out more about him on his website.

His website is where you can learn about his life and career as a biathlete. You can visit it to find out more about this talented athlete.

Birthday, Age and Zodiac

Bjorn Ferry was born on August 1, 1978. He is 48 years old. His zodiac sign is Leo.

What it means to be a Leo

People who are Leos are known for being strong and confident. They are natural leaders and are very determined.

Fun Facts and Legacy

Bjorn Ferry is a very talented athlete who has won many gold medals. He is a former biathlete and Olympic champion. He is 48 years old and his zodiac sign is Leo.

We know he was born on August 1, 1978, and that he started competing in World Cup competitions in 2001. He won his first international race in the 2007-2008 season.

He won gold in the mixed relay event at the Biathlon World Championships in 2007 and the gold medal in the pursuit event at the Winter Olympics in 2010. These are just a few of the many amazing things he has achieved in his career.

Björn Ferry - Quick Facts

Profile Overview of Björn Ferry

Björn Ferry (born 1 August 1978) is a Swedish former biathlete and Olympic champion. 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. In 2010, 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.

This profile of Björn Ferry covers Career and Rise to Fame, Opposition to doping and Personal Life.

Career and Rise to Fame of Björn Ferry

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.

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 lacklustre, 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 16 February, Ferry finished in first place, winning the gold medal after catching and passing the race leader on the final lap of the race. 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 male athlete in half a century.

Ferry practices with the Storuman IK club. His personal coach was German Wolfgang Pichler until Pichler left his role as coach of the Swedish biathlon team in 2010. He later 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.

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

Opposition to doping of Björn Ferry

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 several death threats. 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." 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

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

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

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.

Source: adapted from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bj%C3%B6rn_Ferry), text available under CC BY-SA 4.0.