Ivar Ballangrud

One of the greatest speed skaters of the early Olympic Winter Games, Ivar Ballangrud competed in three Games, earning seven medals. At the St. Moritz 1928 Olympic Games, Ballangrud won the 5,000 metres by 8.6 seconds and added a bronze medal in the 1,500 metres. The 1932 Olympic Games speed skating events in Lake Placid were held pack-style, a format with which Ballangrud was unfamiliar. Although he entered three events, his only medal was a silver in the 10,000 metres. The normal rules were reinstated in for the Garmisch-Partenkirchen Games in 1936 and Ballangrud won four medals — gold in the 500, 5,000 and 10,000 metre events, as well as a silver in the 1,500 metre event.