Oddvar Brå

Oddvar Brå

Medal record
Men's Cross country skiing
Representing Norway
Olympic Games
	1972 Sapporo	4 x 10 km
	1980 Lake Placid	4 x 10 km
World Championships
	1982 Oslo	15 km
	1982 Oslo	4 x 10 km
	1974 Falun	4 x 10 km
	1978 Lahti	4 x 10 km

Oddvar Brå (born March 16, 1951) is a Norwegian former cross-country skier. He was among the best skiers in Norway, winner three times of World Cup (1972-73 (named World ranking), 1974-75 and 1978-79) winning 16 national championships, but his success in the major international championships was more modest. He participated internationally from the 1972 Winter Olympics to the 1991 Holmenkollen ski festival, but his first individual major international win was at the 1982 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Oslo, where he won the 15 km event. In the same championship, he won a shared gold medal (Soviet Union) in the relay after a dramatic finish where his ski pole broke, something which forever became a memory for most Norwegians, leading to the popular all-Norwegian expression "Hvor var du da Brå brakk staven?" ("Where were you when Brå broke his pole?"). Brå also won three relay medals at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships with a gold in 1982 and bronzes in 1974 and 1978. Brå additionally won two silver medals in the 4 x 10 km at the 1972 Winter Olympics and the 1980 Winter Olympics.

He also won the 15 km at the Holmenkollen ski festival in 1980 and 1982, and the 50 km in 1975, 1979, and 1981. In 1975, Brå was awarded the Holmenkollen medal (shared with Gerhard Grimmer and Ivar Formo).

Brå's best individual achievement in the Olympics was a 4th position in the 15 km event in the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. He received the Egebergs Ærespris in 1987 for his accomplishments in cross-country skiing and athletics (track and field).

References

• Oddvar Braa at the International Ski Federation
• Holmenkollen medalists - click Holmenkollmedaljen for downloadable pdf file (Norwegian)
• Holmenkollen winners since 1892 - click Vinnere for downloadable pdf file (Norwegian)

Preceded by Cato Zahl Pedersen

Egebergs Ærespris 1987

Succeeded by Ragnhild Bratberg