Simon Ammann

Simon Ammann
Ammann in 2011
Country	Switzerland
Born	(1981-06-25) 25 June 1981 Grabs, Switzerland
Height	1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)
Ski club	RG Churfirsten
Personal best	238.5 m (782 ft) Vikersund, 13 February 2011
World Cup career
Seasons	1998–present
Starts	394
Podiums	80
Wins	23
Overall titles	1 (2010)
Nordic titles	1 (2010)
Medal record Men's ski jumping Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 4 0 0 World Championships 1 1 2 Ski Flying World Championships 1 0 0 Total 6 1 2 Olympic Games 2002 Salt Lake City Individual NH 2002 Salt Lake City Individual LH 2010 Vancouver Individual NH 2010 Vancouver Individual LH FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2007 Sapporo Individual LH 2007 Sapporo Individual NH 2009 Liberec Individual NH 2011 Oslo Individual LH Men's ski flying FIS Ski Flying World Championships 2010 Planica Individual
Updated on 15 March 2018.

Simon Ammann (/ˈsiːmɒn/; born 25 June 1981) is a Swiss ski jumper. He is one of the most successful athletes in the history of the sport, having won four individual Winter Olympic gold medals, in 2002 and 2010, and is the only ski jumper to have achieved the gold double–double at the Winter Olympics. His other achievements include winning the 2007 Ski Jumping World Championships, the 2010 Ski Flying World Championships, the 2010 Nordic Tournament, and the 2010 Ski Jumping World Cup overall title.

Career

Ammann made his debut as a 16-year-old rookie during the 1997–1998 Ski jumping World Cup season. Ammann qualified for the 1998 Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan, where he finished 35th.

Prior to the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Ammann crashed and suffered injuries during training in Willingen. Despite this, he won a gold medal in both the individual normal hill and large hill competitions, being only the second athlete to accomplish this feat (Matti Nykänen having done so in 1988). Following the Olympics, Ammann became a star in Switzerland and also made appearances on American talk shows, such as the Late Show with David Letterman (on 20 February 2002).

Ammann also won the ski jumping event at the Holmenkollen Ski Festival in 2002 and 2007. This earned him the Holmenkollen medal in 2007 (shared with Frode Estil, Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset, King Harald V, and Queen Sonja of Norway).

He made his third Olympic appearance in 2006 in Turin, Italy.

On 24 February 2007, he won his first medal at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships with a victory in the Individual Large Hill in Sapporo, Japan. Ammann would follow this with a silver medal in the Individual Normal Hill the following week. Ammann would complete his set of medals with a bronze medal in the Individual Normal Hill event at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 in Liberec, Czech Republic.

In 2010, competing in his fourth Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Ammann won the gold medal in the Individual Normal Hill event. He became the first man in Olympic history to win gold medals in the Individual Normal Hill event in two Olympics.

On 20 February 2010, he also won a gold medal in the Individual Large Hill event at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, thus becoming the first man to win gold medals in both individual ski jumping events in two Olympic games, as well as the most decorated Swiss Olympic athlete of all time. His first jump was 144 meters. His second jump was 138 meters.

In March 2010, Ammann became the overall winner of 2009–10 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup, winning all four events at the Nordic Tournament and nine World Cup events in one season overall. He finished the season by becoming the ski flying World Champion in Planica on the largest hill in the world. His 236.5 m fourth round jump was the longest jump of the event and then the second longest jump in history.

He won his most recent gold medal on the FIS World Cup circuit in December 2013. He was selected flag-bearer of the Swiss Winter Olympics team at Sochi, Russia, in February 2014.

The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi were disappointing for Ammann. He called a news conference, and there was a lot of buzz that he was going to announce his retirement. However, he merely gave a long talk about how it was too early to decide.

On 6 January 2015, Ammann was injured on his second-round jump in Bischofshofen during the final stage of the 2014/15 Four Hills Tournament. His representation has since stated that his condition is stable, with the most damage being to his face. The Four Hills tournament proved to be a very tough outing overall for Ammann, as he also fell in the first round in Oberstdorf.

World Cup

Standings

Season	Overall	4H	SF	RA	W5	P7	NT	JP
1997/98	70	48	—	N/A	N/A	N/A	—	67
1998/99	—	64	—	N/A	N/A	N/A	—	—
1999/00	45	70	—	N/A	N/A	N/A	59	45
2000/01	—	—	—	N/A	N/A	N/A	—	N/A
2001/02	7	6	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	4	N/A
2002/03	28	24	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	24	N/A
2003/04	13	14	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A		N/A
2004/05	23	37	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	27	N/A
2005/06	17	13	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	20	N/A
2006/07			N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A		N/A
2007/08	9	15	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	20	N/A
2008/09				N/A	N/A	N/A		N/A
2009/10		5		N/A	N/A	N/A		N/A
2010/11			5	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
2011/12	11	19		N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
2012/13	14	27	10	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
2013/14	7		4	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
2014/15	11	17	—	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
2015/16	15	11	15	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
2016/17	29	44	24	11	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
2017/18	19	29	3	12	—		N/A	N/A

Wins

No.	Season	Date	Location	Hill	Size
1	2001/02	17 March 2002	Oslo	Holmenkollbakken K115	LH
2	2006/07	2 December 2006	Lillehammer	Lysgårdsbakken HS134 (night)	LH
3	2006/07	18 March 2007	Oslo	Holmenkollbakken HS128	LH
4	2008/09	29 November 2008	Kuusamo	Rukatunturi HS142 (night)	LH
5		7 December 2008	Trondheim	Granåsen HS140	LH
6		13 December 2008	Pragelato	Stadio del Trampolino HS140 (night)	LH
7		20 December 2008	Engelberg	Gross-Titlis-Schanze HS137	LH
8		29 December 2008	Oberstdorf	Schattenbergschanze HS137 (night)	LH
9	2009/10	6 December 2009	Lillehammer	Lysgårdsbakken HS138	LH
10		18 December 2009	Engelberg	Gross-Titlis-Schanze HS137	LH
11		20 December 2009	Engelberg	Gross-Titlis-Schanze HS137	LH
12		17 January 2010	Sapporo	Ōkurayama HS134	LH
13		3 February 2010	Klingenthal	Vogtland Arena HS140 (night)	LH
14		7 March 2010	Lahti	Salpausselkä HS130	LH
15		9 March 2010	Kuopio	Puijo HS127 (night)	LH
16		12 March 2010	Lillehammer	Lysgårdsbakken HS138 (night)	LH
17		14 March 2010	Oslo	Holmenkollbakken HS134	LH
18	2010/11	1 January 2011	Garmisch-Partenkirchen	Große Olympiaschanze HS140	LH
19		22 January 2011	Zakopane	Wielka Krokiew HS134 (night)	LH
20		13 March 2011	Lahti	Salpausselkä HS130	LH
21	2013/14	29 December 2013	Oberstdorf	Schattenbergschanze HS137 (night)	LH
22	2014/15	28 November 2014	Kuusamo	Rukatunturi HS142 (night)	LH
23		29 November 2014	Kuusamo	Rukatunturi HS142 (night)	LH

Personal life

Simon Ammann was born in Grabs, Switzerland, to Margit and Heinrich Ammann and raised in Unterwasser, Switzerland. He has two brothers and three sisters. He married Yana Yanovskaya in 2010.

See also

• List of Olympic medalists in ski jumping
• List of FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in ski jumping
• List of FIS Ski Flying World Championships medalists in ski flying

External links

• Official home page
• Portrait of Simon Ammann
• Home of Simon Ammann