Johann Olav Koss

Johann Olav Koss, born in 1968, Norwegian speed skater, who won three gold medals at the 1994 Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway. Koss was born in Oslo. He developed slowly as a skater, and he failed to qualify for the 1988 Norwegian Olympic team. In 1990, however, after concentrating on speed skating's distance events—the 1500-meter, 5000-meter, and 10,000-meter races—he won the world speed-skating championship. This championship recognizes great all-around skaters because it is determined by the results at a single competition in which skaters compete in all five distances: the three distance events and the 500-meter and 1000-meter races. In 1991 Koss repeated his world championship title.

One week before the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, France, Koss fell sick and was hospitalized for two days. Weakened by the illness, he nevertheless competed, winning the 1500-meter, placing second in the 10,000-meter, and finishing seventh in the 5000-meter. Two years later at the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, Koss dominated the distance events, winning all three races. In the 1500-meter he set a new world record of 1 minute 51.29 seconds. In the 5000-meter he set a second world record, with a time of 6 minutes 34.96 seconds. And in the 10,000-meter race, his best event, he broke his own world record by almost 13 seconds, with a time of 13 minutes 30.55 seconds. After the Olympics Koss also became widely known for his humanitarian activities, which include work with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and with Olympic Aid, an organization dedicated to helping children in need.