Lars Thomas Wassberg is a Swedish former cross-country skier. A fast skating style – push for every leg – is still called "Wassberg" after him in several countries. Wassberg's skiing idols when growing up were Sixten Jernberg and Oddvar Brå. He has described his mental strength and physical fitness as his greatest abilities as a skier, with his main weakness being a lack of sprinting ability.
Ove Robert Aunli is a Norwegian former cross-country skier. He took the Olympic bronze medal in 1980 Lake Placid when Thomas Wassberg beat Juha Mieto by one-hundredth of a second for the gold medal, and won a silver medal as part of Norway's 4 × 10 km relay team.
Nikolay Semyonovich Zimyatov, is a Soviet and Russian cross-country skier. He was the first man in the sport to win three gold medals at a single Winter Olympics, in the 30 km, 50 km and 4 × 10 km relay at the 1980 Lake Placid Games. In the 50 km race he finished two and half minutes ahead of the second place. He also won the 30 km event at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo and was awarded Order of Friendship of Peoples that year.
The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 1970 took place 14–22 February 1970 in Vysoké Tatry, Czechoslovakia. This was the second time this city hosted the event having done so in 1935. It was the first time an event was televised in colour from Czechoslovakia though broadcasting there remained in black and white. This was the first championships that timed the results in hundredths of a second, a practice that continued until the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid when Sweden's Thomas Wassberg edged out Finland's Juha Mieto by 0.01 seconds in the men's 15 km event.
The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 1982 took place on 19–28 February 1982 in Oslo, Norway at the Holmenkollen ski arena. This was Oslo's record-tying fourth time hosting the event after previously doing so in 1930, the 1952 Winter Olympics, and 1966. The Nordic combined 3 × 10 km team event and the ski jumping team large hill events were added to these championships. It was also the year in which cross country competitions had the freestyle technique debuted and that electronic timing returned to scoring the results in tenths of a second after Sweden's Thomas Wassberg edged out Finland's Juha Mieto by 0.01 seconds in the men's 15 km event at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. The timing of the event in tenths of a second has continued as of 2011 in all Nordic skiing events.
Józef Łuszczek is a Polish former cross-country skier who competed from 1978 to 1984. He won two medals at the 1978 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Lahti with a gold in the 15 km and a bronze in the 30 km.
The men's 50 kilometre freestyle cross-country skiing competition at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, was held on 22 February in Les Saisies.
The men's 50 kilometre freestyle cross-country skiing competition at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada, was held on 27 February 1988 at the Canmore Nordic Centre.
The men's 50 kilometre cross-country skiing competition at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, was held on Sunday 19 February at Veliko Polje, Igman. It was the last event of the men's cross-country skiing programme at these games and the fourteenth appearance of the 50 kilometre race as it had appeared in every Winter games. Thomas Wassberg of Sweden was the 1982 World champion and Nikolay Zimyatov of the Soviet Union was the defending champion from the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, United States.
The men's 50 kilometre cross-country skiing competition at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, United States, was held on Saturday 23 February at Mount Van Hoevenberg, Essex County, New York. Sven-Åke Lundbäck of Sweden was the 1978 World champion and Ivar Formo of Norway was the defending champion from the 1976 Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria.
The men's 50 kilometre cross-country skiing competition at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, was held on Saturday 14 February at Seefeld. Gerhard Grimmer of East Germany was the 1974 World champion and Pål Tyldum of Norway was the defending champion from the 1972 Olympics in Sapporo, Japan.
The men's 50 kilometre cross-country skiing competition at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan, was held on Thursday 10 February at Makomanai Cross Country Events Site. Kalevi Oikarainen of Finland was the 1970 World champion and Ole Ellefsæter of Norway was the defending champion from the 1968 Olympics in Grenoble, France.
The 4 × 10 kilometre relay cross-country skiing at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, United States was held on Wednesday 20 February at the Mount Van Hoevenberg. It was the tenth appearance of the 4 × 10 km relay in the Winter Olympics.
The men's 50 kilometre cross-country skiing competition at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France, was held on Saturday 17 February at Autrans. Gjermund Eggen of Norway was the defending World champion while Sixten Jernberg of Sweden was the defending Olympic champion.
The men's 30 kilometre classical cross-country skiing competition at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada, was held on Monday 15 February at the Canmore Nordic Centre in Canmore.
The men's 30 kilometre cross-country skiing competition at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, United States, was held on Thursday 14 February at the Mount Van Hoevenberg in Essex County, New York.
The men's 15 kilometre cross-country skiing competition at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, was held on Sunday 8 February at Seefeld in Tirol. Each skier started at half a minute intervals, skiing the entire 15 kilometre course.
The men's 30 kilometre cross-country skiing competition at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, was held on Thursday 5 February at Seefeld in Tirol.
The men's 50 kilometre freestyle competition in cross-country skiing at the 2022 Winter Olympics was held on 19 February, at the Kuyangshu Nordic Center and Biathlon Center in Taizicheng. Alexander Bolshunov, representing the Russian Olympic Committee, won the event, and Ivan Yakimushkin, also of ROC, won silver, his first Olympic medal. Simen Hegstad Krüger of Norway won the bronze medal, competing in his first and only race at these Games after an illness. Bolshunov became only the second skier who won 30 km and 50 km at the same Olympics, after Russian Nikolay Zimyatov accomplished this in 1980.
