Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå (born 10 February 1973) is a Norwegian cross-country and marathon mountain biker. She won the women's cross-country gold medal at the 2004 Olympic Games and is a multiple World Champion. She has won six World Championships and six European championships. Dahle has also won four UCI World Cup XC in a row. She was on the start list of 2018 Cross Country European Championships.
Biography Gunn-Rita grew up in the village of Bjørheimsbygd in Strand Municipality, Rogaland. She had her first MTB ride in April 1995 at 22 years old . Gunn-Rita has won a total of 18 Olympic, World- and European Championship Gold Medals. She currently rides for the German-based MTB Team, Multivan Mérida Biking Team. She has been riding on Mérida bikes since January 2002 and has been a professional cyclist for 20 years. She has won the overall World Cup 4 consecutive years (2003–06) and has a total of 30 World Cup wins, beating Juliana Furtado's seemingly unbeatable record set in the 90s. Some of her greatest achievements are the Olympic gold medal in 2004 in Athens, 9 World Championship Gold medals, 8 European Championship Gold medals, and many silver medals. The last rainbow jersey she won in 2013, Worlds Marathon in Kirchberg (AUS).
Personal information Coach Kenneth Flesjå EducationJournalism, University of Stavanger, 1994–96 Civil status married to Kenneth Flesjå. One son together (born March 2009) Official website
Team information Current team: Multivan Mérida Biking Team Discipline: Mountain Bike, Cross-Country Olympic Distance Professional teams: American Eagle (Netherlands) 1995–1998, Øgland-DBS (Norway) 1998–2001, Multivan Mérida Biking Team (Germany/Taiwan), 2002–2016
Major wins Olympic gold medal: Athens, Greece (2004)
World Champion XCO Gold Medals: Rotorua, New Zealand (2006), Livigno, Italy (2005), Les Gets, France (2004), Kaprun, Austria (2002).
World Champion Marathon Gold Medals: Selva Val Gardena, Italy (2015), Kirchberg, Austria (2013), Villabassa, Italy (2008), Oisans, France (2006), Lillehammer, Norway (2005), Bad Goisern, Austria (2004).
European Championship XCO Gold Medals: Moscow, Russia (2012), Dohnany, Slovakia (2011), Kluisbergen, Belgium (2005), Walbrzych Ksiaz, Poland (2004), Kaprun, Austria (2003), Zürich, Switzerland (2002)
European Championship Marathon Gold Medals: Tartu, Estonia (2009), Alpago, Italy (2006).
World Championship XCO Silver Medals: Leogang, Austria (2012), Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada (1998).
World Championship Marathon Silver Medal: Ornans, France (2012)
European Championship XCO Silver Medals: Alpago, Italy (2006), Étalle, Belgium (1998).
European Championship XC Marathon Silver Medals: Montebelluna, Italy (2010), Kaprun, Austria (2003), Kaprun, Austria (2002).
European Championship XCO Bronze Medal: St. Wendel, Germany (2008).
Overall World Cup Winner: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006.
Overall World Cup second place: 1996, 1999, 2012.
World Cup races 1st place: 1st place Vallnord, Andorra (2018), 1st place Lenzerheide, Switzerland (2015), 1st place Val-d'Isère, France (2012), 1st place La Bresse, France (2012), 1st place Madrid, Spain (2008), 1st place Curaçao, Venezuela (2006), 1st place Spa, Belgium (2006), 1st place Fort William, Scotland (2006), 1st place Madrid, Spain (2006), 1st place Willingen, Germany (2005), 1st place Madrid, Spain (2005), 1st place Santa Catarina, Brazil (2005), 1st place New Mexico, USA (2005), 1st place Houffalize, Belgium (2005), 1st place Livigno, Italy (2004), 1st place Calgary, Canada (2004), 1st place Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada (2004), 1st place Fort William, Scotland (2004), 1st place Houffalize, Belgium (2004), 1st place Madrid, Spain (2004), 1st place Grouse Mountain, Canada (2003), 1st place Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada (2003), 1st place Fort William, Scotland (2003), 1st place St. Wendel, Germany (2003), 1st place Kaprun, Austria (2003), 1st place Canmore, Canada (1999), 1st place Bromont, Canada (1998), 1st place St. Wendel, Germany (1998), 1st place Kristiansand, Norway (1996), 1st place Hawaii, USA (1996).
Awards
2007: Norwegian Sports Gala ceremony: award for Female Athlete of the Year ("Årets kvinnelige idrettsutøver"). 2005: Nominated for Laureus World Sports Awards, "Alternative Sportsperson of the Year" category. 2005: "Aftenpostens gullmedalje", one of the most coveted awards within Norwegian sports since 1933. 2005: Norwegian Sports Gala ceremony: the Title for Endurance ("Utholdenhetsprisen"), Name of the Year ("Årets navn"), and The Athletes' Own Award ("Utøvernes egen pris"). 2004: Norwegian Sports Gala ceremony: the Title for Endurance ("Utholdenhetsprisen"), Name of the Year ("Årets navn"), and The Athletes' Own Award ("Utøvernes egen pris"). 2003: Tabuprisen (The Taboo Award), a Norwegian award for high-profile individuals, awarded for openness concerning psychological issues.
Professional career in detail
1995: Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå entered the world mountain bike racing scene summer 1995 after having her first off-road training ever in April the same year. She got a 3rd place in her first World Cup race in Plymouth (GBR), and signed up with American Eagle, a Dutch bicycle team and manufacturer, in October -95.
1996: In 1996 Gunn-Rita ended number 2 overall in the World Cup, winning her first WC race in Kristiansand, Norway, this season, as well as the World Cup Final in Haiway. She was also Nordic Champion in Finland this year. At the Atlanta Olympics she got 4th place. This all placed her firmly in the searchlight of the Norwegian media. 1996 was the first year that Mountain Biking was an Olympic discipline.
1997: The season of 1997 was unfortunately ruined by a virus. She was more or less not racing this summer, but finished of the season at the World Championship with a 12th place (må sjekke dette da jet er litt usikker- mulig en 14 plass!!!)
1998: In 1998 Gunn-Rita won a Grundig World Cup 1st place in Germany, and a Grundig World Cup 1st place in Canada. She also won the silver medal in the XCO (Cross-country Olympic distance) World Championships in Canada, and the silver medal in the XCO European championships in the Netherlands. She got 4th place overall in the World Cup series, which consisted of 12-14 races during the season these years, with 10 of them counting on the total WC score. Gunn-Rita signed a contract with Øgland/DBS, a small Norwegian bicycle manufacturer which used to be located in Sandnes, Norway, where Gunn-Rita lives. DBS used to be one of the big brands on the Nordic market and were the main sponsors for the Norwegian national cycling teams. Gunn-Rita also won one of the stages in the Tour de France Féminin road this year, and came in number 8 in a sprint at the women's Road Racing World Championships in Falkenburg, Belgium.
1999: The autumn of 1999 was a fantastic season for Gunn-Rita. She won 1st place in the World Cup race in Canmore, Canada, and ended 2nd overall in the World Cup. Gunn-Rita was among the top 5 in every single World Cup race this year, and she was missing a mere 5 points to win the World Cup overall, which was won my Allison Sydor. Gunn-Rita's efforts contributed enormously to qualifying the Norwegian Road National Team for the Sydney Olympics in 2000. In the autumn, she had an altitude simulation room built in the basement of her home, simulating 2500–3000 meters above sea level. She now embarked on a period of extremely hard training. A whole range of different experts and coaches made their entry onto the scene, leading to what can only be described as an unfortunate degree of confusion. As autumn progressed, Gunn-Rita grew increasingly fatigued. As the preparations for the Olympic season started up (Sydney 2000), she was pressed into a training regime that was simply too extreme. Combined with her fatigue after the taxing season between road and MTB racing of 1999, it became too much.
2000: The season of 2000 was an extremely tough one for Gunn-Rita as she struggled with the effects of overtraining. She ended in the top ten of the first WC race of the season in Mexico, but had to quit the second WC race as her legs simply weren't up to it. She became very ill after this. She made a huge effort to make it in time for the Sydney Olympics, but without luck. She was quite simply overtrained, which also ruined her winter training for 2000–01. She tried a range of different treatments to remedy the situation, and visited many experts to try to document what had happened. From being a contender for the Olympic gold medal, she went to a complete lack of energy, just sitting on the couch. The experience was very tough on her, mentally. DBS was experiencing financial problems at this time and was cutting down on positions, and this was difficult for Gunn-Rita too, because a lot of the DBS cycling team was built up around her. Many wondered what had become of Gunn-Rita, and wherever she went, people would ask her what was going on. At this point in time, Gunn-Rita was dropped as an athlete. Everyone gave up on her, and it took a long time before her muscles started to work properly again.
2001: In the spring of 2001, Kenneth Flesjå took over has Gunn-Rita's coach and trainer. He helped her to start right from scratch and slowly build things up again. His goal was first of all to have Gunn-Rita back on her bike smiling again. Kenneth had to re-plan everything based on the way Gunn-Rita's body responded to the pressures. At the World Championship race in Vail in 2001, Gunn-Rita was leading by 45 seconds right until a short distance before the finish, but her tire was split open just before the finish, ruining her chances of the title. Without any results for almost 2 seasons, it was difficult to get a new contract for Gunn-Rita. In the end she signed a small, one-year contract with a small German team called Mérida International. There wasn't a lot of money in it at the time, but they gave her good bonus deals. Sabine Spitz and Irina Kalientieva were also signed up with the Mérida team at this time. It was a small team, but it provided Gunn-Rita with the chance she needed. Kenneth and Gunn-Rita knew that they could win more. Gunn-Rita was still under the effects of the overtraining and was still weak, so they had to continue holding back for a period.
2002: In 2002 Gunn-Rita won the gold medal in the European XCO Cross Country Championships (Olympic distance) at Zürich. One month later she became the World Champion XC for the first time (Kaprun, Austria). 2002 introduced the period in Gunn-Rita's career with the most wins. Even so, in 2002 Kenneth and Gunn-Rita had discussed seriously whether to cut out cycling and do something completely different – the life of a professional cyclist being as demanding as it is. However, they both had faith in Mérida, and they had friends who had faith in them, but it took a lot of guts. They even had to borrow money from Gunn-Rita's father to keep going. But the amazing results this year proved to them that her strength was on the return, and through the coming years she totally dominated the sport. With this spectacular return after her unfortunate absence, several teams showed interest in signing Gunn-Rita up, but she decided to remain loyal to Mérida. At the start of 2002, Team Mérida had been the only team willing to sponsor her without pressurizing her, demonstrating a high level of faith in her abilities. And so, Gunn-Rita signed a new 3-year contract with Team Mérida.
2003: 2003 was the first year Gunn-Rita was the overall winner of the World Cup with 1st place at the WC races in Austria, Scotland, Canada twice, and Germany. She won many other international races also this year. She continued to win the overall World Cup every year from 2003 to 2006. It had taken three years since the tough season of 2000 to return to the top, but now her musculature was capable of handling enormous strains. Her winter training through the following years was extremely effective.