Johan Grøttumsbråten

Who was Johan Grøttumsbråten?

Johan Grøttumsbråten was a Norwegian skier who competed in Nordic combined and cross-country. Dominating both events in the 1920s and early 1930s, he won several medals in the early Winter Olympics. Most notably, he won two gold medals at the 1928 Winter Olympics, and as one of the only two entrants to win two gold medalists from St. Moritz, was the most successful athlete there, along with Clas Thunberg of Finland. He previously won three medals at the inaugural Winter Olympics held in Chamonix in 1924, and went on to defend his Olympic Nordic Combined at the 1932 Winter Olympics.

In addition, he won three gold medals at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships: In 1931 he won both the cross-country 18 km and Nordic combined, after winning the Nordic combined event earlier in 1926.

Grøttumsbråten is one of only four people to ever win the Holmenkollen ski festival's Nordic combined event five times. In 1924, he shared the Holmenkollen medal with fellow Norwegian Nordic combined athlete Harald Økern.