Berit Aunli

Berit Aunli
Berit Aunli in March, 1981
Country Norway
Born (1956-06-09) 9 June 1956
Stjørdal Municipality, Norway
Spouse(s)
​
(m. 1979)​
Ski clubStrindheim IL
World Cup career
Seasons5 – (1982, 1984–1987)
Indiv. starts26
Indiv. podiums10
Indiv. wins4
Team starts6
Team podiums6
Team wins4
Overall titles1 – (1982)
Medal record
Women's cross-country skiing
Representing  Norway
International nordic ski competitions
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Olympic Games 1 1 1
World Championships 3 2 0
Total 4 3 1
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1984 Sarajevo 4 × 5 km relay
Silver medal – second place 1984 Sarajevo 5 km
Bronze medal – third place 1980 Lake Placid 4 × 5 km relay
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1982 Oslo 5 km
Gold medal – first place 1982 Oslo 10 km
Gold medal – first place 1982 Oslo 4 × 5 km relay
Silver medal – second place 1982 Oslo 20 km
Silver medal – second place 1985 Seefeld 4 × 5 km relay
Updated on 5 January 2019.

Berit Kristine Aunli (née Kvello; born 9 June 1956) is a Norwegian former cross-country skier. She is a World (1982) and Olympic (1984) champion and won a total of 15 Norwegian titles (1977—1982).

Personal life

Aunli has five siblings.[1] Her father, Kristen Kvello, was a Norwegian cross-country skiing champion and a former national coach.[2]

She was inspired by fellow cross-country skier Berit Mørdre and marathon runner Grete Waitz.[1] She met her future husband, Ove Aunli, while skiing when she was 15. They married in 1979 and have a son, Odd.[1][3] A statue of the two of them was erected in Kyrksæterøra in June 2023.[3]

Career

Aunli began training seriously in 1975 and competed in her first senior season in 1976, when she was 18.[1] At the 1976 Winter Olympics, she placed 17th in the women's 5 km and 18th in the women's 10 km.[2]

At the 1978 World Championships, she placed 6th in both the 10 km and 20 km events, the best result of the Norwegian women.[2][4] She became pregnant that year, and her husband received death threats as he was viewed as "ruining" her promising career. Aunli's pregnancy ended in a miscarriage, which she found mentally difficult.[1]

She won her first international championship medal as a member of the Norwegian team that won the bronze medal at the 4 × 5 km relay at the 1980 Winter Olympics. However, she performed much more poorly in her individual events (13th and 18th place) due to illness, and she was criticized for this in Norwegian newspapers.[1]

Aunli had originally intended to retire after the 1980 Olympics, but she continued to compete after being disappointed in her performance there.[1] Her real international breakthrough came at the 1982 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, where her father was an announcer. She won three gold medals in the 5 km, 10 km and 4 × 5 km relay races, in addition to a silver medal in the 20 km classic, where she was beaten by Raisa Smetanina by 3.4 seconds.[3][5] She also became the first winner of an official Cross-Country World Cup after her overall victory in the 1981–82 FIS Cross-Country World Cup.[5]

She took the 1983 season off as she wanted a break from competing and to have a child. Six weeks after giving birth to her son, she began skiing again.[1] That year, she was awarded the Holmenkollen medal (shared with Tom Sandberg).[6]

At the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, she won two medals: gold in the 4 × 5 km relay and silver in 5 km.[2]

She won a silver in the 4 × 5 km relay at the 1985 World Championships.[7] In her individual events, she finished twice in 4th place and once in 6th.[1] That year, she was awarded Morgenbladet's gold medal.[3]

Over her career, she won a total of 15 Norwegian Championships titles, 11 individual and 4 relays. She represented the club Strindheim IL.[3]

Aunli was critical of media coverage of skiers during her career. She felt the press criticism of the older Norwegian women who competed with her at the 1976 Olympics, who did not have as good of results as the Soviet and Finnish skiers, was unduly harsh. She also thought that Norwegians did not take women's cross-country skiing seriously until the early 1980s, when they were highly successful at the World Championships. In a 1986 interview, she recalled examples of a race being advertised as starting when the men's event began, after all the women had competed, as well as letters to the editor in Adresseavisen in 1980 debating whether women should compete at all. Aunli also said that girls had received less support from the Norwegian Ski Federation than boys, though she added, "Today we are treated equally".[1]

Cross-country skiing results

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).[8]

Olympic Games

  • 3 medals – (1 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze)
 Year   Age   5 km   10 km   20 km   4 × 5 km 
 relay 
1976 19 17 18 — 5
1980 23 14 13 — Bronze
1984 27 Silver 4 — Gold

World Championships

  • 5 medals – (3 gold, 2 silver)
 Year   Age   5 km  10 km   20 km   4 × 5 km 
 relay 
1978 21 7 6 6 5
1980 23 — — 7 —
1982 25 Gold Gold Silver Gold
1985 28 4 6 4 Silver

World Cup

Season standings

 Season   Age  Overall
1982 26 1st place, gold medalist(s)
1984 28 7
1985 29 14
1986 30 15
1987 31 41

Individual podiums

  • 4 victories
  • 10 podiums
No. Season Date Location Race Level Place
1  1981–82  15 January 1982 France La Bresse, France 5 km Individual World Cup 2nd
2 19 February 1982 Norway Oslo, Norway 10 km Individual World Championships[1] 1st
3 22 February 1982 5 km Individual World Championships[1] 1st
4 26 February 1982 5 km Individual World Championships[1] 2nd
5 6 March 1982 Finland Lahti, Finland 10 km Individual World Cup 2nd
6 28 March 1982 Czechoslovakia Štrbské Pleso, Czechoslovakia 10 km Individual World Cup 2nd
7 13 April 1982 Sweden Kiruna, Sweden 5 km Individual World Cup 2nd
8  1983–84  12 February 1984 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Sarajevo, Yugoslavia 5 km Individual Olympic Games[1] 2nd
9 3 March 1984 Finland Lahti, Finland 5 km Individual World Cup 1st
10 1984–85 18 December 1984 Switzerland Davos, Switzerland 10 km Individual World Cup 1st

Team podiums

  • 4 victories
  • 6 podiums
No. Season Date Location Race Level Place Teammates
1 1981–82 24 February 1982 Norway Oslo, Norway 4 × 5 km Relay World Championships[1] 1st Bøe / Nybråten / Pettersen
2 1983–84 15 February 1984 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Sarajevo, Yugoslavia 4 × 5 km Relay Olympic Games[1] 1st Nybråten / Jahren / Pettersen
3  1984–85  22 February 1985 Austria Seefeld, Austria 4 × 5 km Relay World Championships[1] 2nd Bøe / Jahren / Nykkelmo
4 17 March 1985 Norway Oslo, Norway 4 × 5 km Relay World Cup 1st Nykkelmo / Jahren / Bøe
5 1985–86 1 March 1986 Finland Lahti, Finland 4 × 5 km Relay C World Cup 1st Pettersen / Pedersen / Jahren
6 13 March 1986 Norway Oslo, Norway 4 × 5 km Relay F World Cup 2nd Dahlmo / Skeime / Jahren

Note: 1 Until the 1999 World Championships and the 1994 Winter Olympics, World Championship and Olympic races were included in the World Cup scoring system.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Kirkebøen, Stein Erik (1986). "Bernit Aunli: Jen tene skulle bare holde kjeft og være glad til" [Bernit Aunli: The girls should just shut up and be happy]. Idrettsjenter : veien til topps [Sports girls: the road to the top] (in Norwegian). Oslo: Universitetsforlaget. pp. 111–120. ISBN 8200357570.
  2. ^ a b c d "Berit Aunli-Kvello". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d e Andersen, Espen (25 March 2025), "Berit Aunli", Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian), retrieved 11 April 2025
  4. ^ "Lahti (FIN) - Event Details - Cross-Country". International Ski and Snowboard Federation. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
  5. ^ a b "Oslo (NOR) - Event Details - Cross-Country". International Ski and Snowboard Federation. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
  6. ^ Bryhn, Rolf; Sundby, Jørn (17 March 2025), "Holmenkollmedaljen" [Holmenkoll Medal], Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian), retrieved 11 April 2025
  7. ^ "Cross-Country Results - Seefeld (AUT) 1984/1985". International Ski and Snowboard Federation. Retrieved 11 April 2025.
  8. ^ "AUNLI KVELLO Berit". International Ski and Snowboard Federation. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
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