30 kilometres, Men

The race was marred by bad weather conditions, heavy snowfall and a strong wind. The surprise 1982 World Champion at the distance, Sweden’s Thomas Eriksson, was not able to qualify for the 1984 Olympics. Nikolay Zimyatov, the triple gold medalist in cross-country skiing at the 1980 games, was not on the Soviet team for the 1982 World Championships, and kept a low international profile in the years before the 1984 Games, but in January 1984 he won the Soviet 30 km Championships, and was selected for the Olympic team. At 30 km, the opening distance of the 1984 Games, Zimyatov showed that he was a man for big Olympic occasions. At the first intermediate time (6.8 km) he was in the lead, 17 seconds ahead of his teammate Aleksandr Zavyalov, with another Soviet skier, 22-year-old Vladimir Sakhnov, in fourth place, 32 seconds behind the leader. The only man who was able to split the Soviet trio was Sweden’s new cross-country star, Gunde Svan, lying third two seconds ahead of Sakhnov. For the rest of the race the situation among the leading quartet was unchanged. At the last intermediate point, 8 km from home, Zimyatov had extended his lead to 46 seconds over Zavyalov, Svan only nine seconds behind. Zimyatov comfortably won his fourth Olympic gold medal with a margin of 27 seconds over his teammate Zavyalov. Svan, with the strongest finish, was only nine seconds behind Zavyalov in third place. Finland’s best was Aki Karvonen in fifth place, over two minutes behind the winner, and the silver medalist from the 1982 World Championships, Norway’s Lars Erik Eriksen followed in sixth, almost another half a minute behind.

With four Olympic gold medals in cross-country skiing, Zimyatov was now equal to two other cross-country skiers: the great Swede Sixten Jernberg (1964) and the cross-country queen of the 1970s, Galina Kulakova.