Three for three:
Johann Olav Koss is the third speed skater I’ll feature in my Lillehammer tales. Unlike Dan Jansen and Bonnie Blair, Koss skated the longer distances. Having won the gold medal at 1500m and the silver at 10,000 meters in Albertville, Koss certainly bore the weight of expectations when he would skate in his home country. However, based on his performance, the then 25 year old felt no burden.
In his first race on 12 February, he not only defended his 1,500 meter title from Albertville, he set a new world record of 1:51.29. The next day, in the 5,000m race, he registered another gold medal and world record setting performance.
[Photo from teamnor.no.]
He had a week between the 5,000 and 10,000 meter races but he remained as sharp as he’d been in his first race winning his third gold medal and setting his third world record.
While winning three gold medals and setting three world records at an Olympic Games in his home country might have been enough for some to consider him a local hero, what makes Koss truly heroic are his actions and choices off the ice.
The story begins.
It might seem superficially strange but the story of Johann Olav Koss’ heroism could be said to have begun on 24 May 1991 with the end of Eritrea’s near three decade long war for independence from Ethiopia. On this date the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front captured the Eritrean capital Asmara and formed a provisional government. Facilitated in part by the United States, and with former Ethiopian leader Mengitsu Mariam in exile, Eritreans overwhelmingly voted for independence on 25 April 1993. A little more than a month later, the United Nations formally recognized the newly independent state thereby clearing the way for a group of athletes known then as Olympic Aid to travel to Africa. Among that group was Johann Olav Koss.
Koss talked about the trip afterward.
“It gave me a purpose to skate for something. It gave me a much better perspective of using my own talent for the better. Because sometimes when you train, you’re complaining about a lot of stuff and not feeling comfortable. Why are you doing this? But then I saw kids affected by war and how they would do anything to be in my position. I was more appreciative of the position I was in and the talent I was given and that I should do my best. Also, if I could inspire a child to be in sport, that would be incredible.
“I brought that experience to the Olympics, and it helped me become a better athlete and a better person.”
Months later as the date of the Olympics approached, the seed from that life changing trip had taken root in Koss’ mind but hadn’t yet flowered into any specific plan of action. Then, after his gold medal win in the 1500m a green shoot broke into his consciousness. He decided that if he won any sort of medal in his next race, the 5,000 meters, he would donate his bonus to an as yet unnamed charity.
What this video of that race doesn’t show is that shortly before the race a journalist handed Koss a letter from a 14-year-old speed skater trying to survive the siege of Sarajevo. It read in part, “Can you help me?” I’m sitting in a bunker. I can’t train. I can’t play. I can’t be active. I would just love to have the opportunity to skate again.” That letter settled his mind.
At his post race press conference, Koss announced his intent to donate all of his bonus money from both his sponsors and the Norwegian government – nearly 250,000 krone (a bit more than 30,000 U S dollars) to Olympic Aid. Someone at the news conference suggested that Koss challenge the Norwegian people to donate 10 krone each (a bit less than $1.50) as well. Koss did just that and several of the sportswriters in the room became the first to meet his challenge. As for the Norwegian people, their collective donations eventually surpassed $18,000,000.
Koss, of course then went on to win his third medal and set another world record in the 10,000 meter race.
The long distance skater was in it for the long haul.
Later in 1994, Koss returned to Eritrea with sporting equipment for the children who had provided his initial inspiration and he continued working with other international charities over the ensuing five or six years before breaking off on his own. In 2000, with a deep belief in the power of sport to teach and develop certain core values, he established a new foundation called Right to Play. Its mission statement reads, “Our mission is to protect, educate, and empower children to rise above adversity using the power of play.”
He describes the idea and its work this way,
I found that sport and play are not really taken seriously in international development. They’re not used in international communities, and I thought, ‘How is that possible?’ I grew up in the most peaceful country in the world, and the Number 1 building block of our society is sport and play. Our ability to understand and respect rules and democracy, and our ability to respect one another, to try again harder, to strive for excellence — all of that comes from sport.
Here we are spending billions and billions of dollars for international development, but we’re not using this extremely cheap, self-motivating and incredibly mobilizing tool where the needs are greatest.
Its focus is working with children in war-torn and impoverished areas across the globe.
Koss had a short lived marriage to a Canadian businesswoman and politician and has been living in Canada since early in this century while retaining his Norwegian citizenship. On 1 July 2015 Koss became an honorary member of the Order of Canada. His title is honorary because he is not a Canadian citizen.
According to its website, as of June 2022, Right To Play has reached 2,35o,ooo children in 15 countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Canada. In Koss’ adopted homeland at the time of the 2015 award, Right to Play had programs in more than 90 First Nations communities.
The true heroism of Johann Olav Koss came not from a trio of remarkable world record setting races in the Lillehammer Olympics but had its genesis from a visit to Africa, a letter from a besieged boy in Sarajevo, a seemingly offhand remark at a press conference, and his own humanity. Four different seeds hybridized to create one global flower. And one local hero.