Bjørn Daehlie competed at his last Games in 1998 in Nagano, at the age of 30. He had already racked up eight Olympic medals – including five golds – since Albertville 1992 Winter Olympic Games. In the snow in Hakuba, he won another four medals, including three golds, finishing on 22 February, the day of the Closing Ceremony, with an epic victory at the 50km finish line.

On 19 February 2014 in Sochi, Ole Einar Bjørndalen was the artisan of Norway’s victory in the first ever Olympic biathlon mixed relay. Having already won the sprint ten days earlier, he took his eighth Olympic title and thirteenth medal, making him one of the greatest Olympic winter athletes of all time.

With fifteen podium places, Marit Bjørgen has more medals than any other Olympic Winter Games athlete. She shares the record for the most titles with fellow Norwegians, cross-country skier Bjørn Daehlie and biathlete Ole Einar Bjørndalen – all of them have eight gold medals. She won her first gold in Vancouver, on 17 February 2010, at the close of the sprint final. It was her third Olympic Games!

At PyeongChang 2018, Marit Bjørgen became the most decorated Winter Games athlete of all time, having won 15 medals, including 8 golds. She joins the list of Norwegian greats with her famous predecessors Bjørn Daehlie and Ole Einar Bjørndalen. The cross-country skier with a record 18 world titles and 112 World Cup victories answers our questions on olympic.org to celebrate the anniversary of her winning her last Olympic title.

The undisputed star of the women’s cross-country events – and indeed PyeongChang 2018 – was Marit Bjørgen who claimed medals in five events to take her overall tally to 15, more than any other Winter Olympian in history. Meanwhile, Sweden’s Charlotte Kalla and compatriot Stina Nilsson both made it onto the podium four times, including in the team sprint, where Jessica Diggins and Kikkan Randall made history by becoming the first US women to win a cross-country gold.

The XXIII Olympic Winter Games produced no shortage of sporting heroes, from seasoned athletes who wrote their names in Olympic history with amazing feats and multiple medals to newcomers who announced themselves to the world with their stunning performances.

Ole Einar Bjørndalen confirmed his status as one of the all-time Winter Olympic greats, winning two more golds in Sochi to take his overall tally to 13 medals, more than any other winter athlete in history. Meanwhile Martin Fourcade added a pair of golds of his own, and Anton Shipulin spearheaded a Russian triumph in the relay on the final day of competition.

A whole host of records were broken at a memorable edition of the Games that saw 40-year-old Norwegian Ole Einar Bjørndalen become the most decorated Winter Olympian of all time. The USA’s Mikaela Schiffrin broke new ground as Alpine skiing’s youngest ever gold medallist, while Finland’s Teemu Selänne became the oldest male ice hockey player to win a medal at the Games. These were just a few of the landmarks and firsts to hit the headlines in Sochi. Join us as we run the rule over the record-breakers who helped increase the wow-factor of this year’s Winter Games.

With Norway’s victory in the new mixed relay event in Sochi on 19 February 2014, Ole Einar Bjørndalen took his Olympic medal tally to 13 and in doing so set a new benchmark for the most medals won at the Winter Games. Earlier at Sochi 2014 he had drawn level with the previous record holder, his compatriot and cross country skiing legend Bjørn Daehlie, Now though, he entered in a league of his own, confirming his status as the greatest Winter Olympian of all time.

Russia took gold in a dramatic men's biathlon team relay at the Laura Cross-Country Ski & Biathlon Centre. Their quartet of Alexey Volkov, Evgeny Ustyugov, Dmitry Malyshko and Anton Shipulin produced a winning time of 1 hour 12 minutes 15.9 seconds.