Events in Sport
1st Winter Olympics
1924-02-04 Jacob Tullin Thams of Norway wins ski jumping gold at the Chamonix Winter Olympics; in 1936 he earns a silver medal in sailing at Berlin Summer Games
- 1928-02-18 Norway goes 1-2 in the ski jumping at the St. Moritz Winter Olympics with Alf Andersen taking gold ahead of Sigmund Ruud
- 1936-02-08 1st ski jumping tournament at Red Wing, Minnesota
- 1948-02-07 After winning Lake Placid (1932) and Garmisch-Partenkirchen (1936) Olympic ski jumping gold medals, Birger Ruud comes out of retirement to win silver in St. Moritz in a Norwegian medal sweep
- 1952-02-24 Norway goes 1-2 in the men’s ski jumping event at the Oslo Winter Olympics with Arnfinn Bergmann winning gold ahead of teammate Torbjørn Falkanger
- 1956-02-05 Finland goes 1-2 in the ski jumping at the Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics; Antti Hyvärinen takes gold ahead of teammate Aulis Kallakorpi
- 1967-03-12 Austria's Reinhold Bachler ski jumps 505 feet
- 1970-03-21 Vinko Bogataj crashes during a ski-jumping championship in Germany; his image becomes that of the "agony of defeat guy" in the opening credits of ABC's Wide World of Sports.
- 1975-01-14 Anita Wold (Norway) sets women's ski jump distance record-98 m
- 1981-03-29 Tiina Lehtola ski jumps female record 110m
- 1984-02-09 East German ski jumper Jens Weißflog wins first of 3 career Olympic gold medals in the Normal Hill individual event at the Sarajevo Winter Games
Olympic Gold
1984-02-18 Finnish ski jumper Matti Nykänen wins first of 4 career Olympic gold medals in the Large Hill individual event at the Sarajevo Winter Games
- 1985-03-17 Matti Nykanen of Finland set a world ski jump record of 623'
- 1988-02-24 Finnish ski jumper Matti Nykanen wins his 3rd gold medal of the Calgary Winter Olympics as part of the winning large hill team; normal and large hill individual champion
- 2014-02-15 Polish ski jumper Kamil Stoch wins his 2nd gold medal of the Sochi Winter Olympics in the men's large hill event; also wins normal hill gold
- 2018-02-08 Noriaki Kasai of Japan becomes first athlete in history to participate in 8 Winter Olympics in the ski jumping qualification prior to the Pyeongchang Games
- 2018-02-10 Sochi (2014) Olympic large hill ski jump champion Andreas Wellinger of Germany wins the individual normal hill gold medal at Pyeongchang by just 0.2m from Norway's Johann André Forfang
- 2018-02-17 Polish ski jumper Kamil Stoch retains his Olympic individual large hill title (Sochi 2014) with gold in Pyeongchang; beats normal hill winner Andreas Wellinger of Germany by 3.4m
Birthdays in Sport
- 1911-08-23 Birger Ruud, Norwegian ski jumper (Olympic gold 1932, 36; World C'ship gold 1931, 35, 37), born in Kongsberg, Norway (d. 1998)
- 1917-07-24 Simon Slåttvik, Norwegian cross country skier (Olympic gold 18 km individual 1952), born in Valnesfjord, Norway (d. 2001)
- 1920-01-20 Thorleif Schjelderup, Norwegian author and ski jumper, born in Aker, Norway (d. 2006)
- 1927-10-08 Torbjorn Falkanger, Norwegian ski jumper who took the Olympic oath in 1952, born in Trondheim, Norway (d. 2013)
- 1930-10-11 Harry Glaß, German ski jumper (Olympic bronze 1956), born in Klingenthal, Vogtland, Saxony, Germany (d. 1997)
- 1937-03-20 Helmut Recknagel, German 90m ski jump (Olympic gold 1960)
- 1937-08-20 George Thoma, German cross country ski jumper (Olympic gold 1960), born in Newstadt, Germany
- 1942-04-03 Rick Sylvester, Hollywood stuntman, parachute ski jumper (world record 3,300')
- 1943-08-04 Bjørn Wirkola, Norwegian ski jumper, born in Alta, Norway
- 1943-08-17 Yukio Kasaya, Japanese ski jumper (Olympic gold 1972), born in Yoichi, Japan (d. 2024)
- 1952-08-06 Wojiech Fortuna, Polish ski jumper (Olympic gold 1972)
- 1954-03-08 Karl Schnabl, 90m ski jumper (Olympic gold 1976)
- 1958-04-01 Toni Innauer, Austrian ski jumper (Olympic gold individual normal hill 1980; silver long hill 1976), born in Bezau, Austria
- 1959-06-25 Jari Puikkonen, Finnish ski jumper (Winter Olympics medalist), born in Lahti, Finland
- 1962-08-03 Tina Lehtola, Finnish women's ski jumper (world's record holder), born in Finland
Matti Nykänen (1963-2019)
1963-07-17 Finnish ski jumper (4 Olympic gold 1984, 88), born in Jyväskylä, Finland
- 1963-12-05 Eddie "the Eagle" Edwards, English ski jumper (subject of 2015 movie "Eddie the Eagle"), born in Cheltenham, England
- 1977-05-11 Janne Ahonen, Finnish ski jumper
- 1977-12-03 Adam Małysz, Polish ski jumper (record 4 individual World C'ship gold medals), Wisła, Poland
- 1978-01-29 Martin Schmitt, German ski jumper (Olympic gold team 2002, silver 1998, 2010; World C'ship gold x 4), born in Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany
- 1979-02-28 Primož Peterka, Slovenian ski jumper, born in Ljubljana, Slovenia
- 1979-12-26 Dimitry Vassiliev, Russian ski jumper, born in Ufa, Russia
- 1981-04-01 Bjørn Einar Romøren, Norwegian ski jumper (FIS Ski Flying World C'ship gold team 2004, world record longest jump 239m 2005, Olympic bronze LH 2006), born in Oslo, Norway
- 1981-06-25 Simon Ammann, Swiss ski jumper (Olympic gold- 2002, 2010), born in Grabs, Switzerland
- 1984-06-18 Janne Happonen, Finnish ski jumper, born in Kuopio, Finland
- 1985-02-10 Anette Sagen, Norwegian ski jumper, born in Mosjøen, Norway
- 1986-10-30 Thomas Morgenstern, Austrian ski jumper (3 Olympic gold 2006, 10), born in Spittal an der Drau, Austria
- 1990-01-07 Gregor Schlierenzauer, Austrian ski jumper, born in Tyrol, Austria
Deaths in Sport
- 1997-12-13 Harry Glaß, German ski jumper (Olympic bronze 1956), dies at 67
- 1998-06-13 Birger Ruud, Norwegian ski jumper (Olympic gold 1932, 36; World C'ship gold 1931, 35, 37), dies at 86
- 2001-05-07 Simon Slåttvik, Norwegian cross country skier (Olympic gold 18 km individual 1952), dies at 83
- 2006-05-28 Thorleif Schjelderup, Norwegian author and ski jumper (b. 1920)
- 2011-10-09 Pavel Karelin, Russian ski jumper (b. 1989)
- 2013-07-16 Torbjorn Falkanger, Norwegian ski jumper who took the Olympic oath in 1952, dies at 85
Matti Nykänen (1963-2019)
2019-02-03 Finnish ski jumper (4 Olympic gold 1984, 88), dies of diabetes complications at 55