Berit AUNLI

Berit Kvello was born into a ski family. Her father, Kristen Kvello, was 1957 Norwegian Champion in the 50 km, was national coach from 1958-64, later was a member of the FIS cross-country committee, and was a highly acclaimed announcer and writer about skiing. Berit won 11 individual national championships in the period 1977-82. Her first international championships participation was at the 1978 World Ski Championships in Lahti, where she was the best of the Norwegian female skiers, placing sixth in both the 20 km and 10 km events. In 1979 she married cross-country skier Ove Aunli, and at the 1980 Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid she won her first international medal as a member of the Norwegian relay team which placed third.

Her greatest year was 1982. She was the queen of the World Championships in Oslo, winning three gold medals (5 km, 10 km and relay), and earning silver in the final 20 km race, beaten only by 3.4 seconds by Raisa Smetanina. She also won the overall World Cup in the 1981-82 season in addition to national titles over 5 km and 10 km. She became the first female Norwegian cross-country skier to win a gold medal in the Olympic Games or World Championships, and was named the 1982 Nordic athlete-of-the-year. In 1983 Kvello-Aunli gave birth to a son, but came strongly back in 1984, winning gold with the Norwegian relay team and silver at the 5 km race at the Sarajevo Olympics, and had one World Cup victory. In 1985 she won another silver medal as a member of the Norwegian relay team at the World Championships in Seefeld. Her best result in 1986, her final season, was a fourth-place over 20 km at the World Cup event in Oberstdorf. Berit and Ove Aunli later settled in Kyrksæterøra, west of Trondheim, where they run a sports shop.