ROWMARK FOUNDER OLLE LARSSON
RETIRES AFTER 28 YEARS BY ERIC WILLIAMS
Plenty of ski towns host an
annual Ullr Fest in honor of the
winter god. But this spring, Salt
Lake City hosted an Olle Fest
— in honor of one of ski racing’s
legends.
Twenty-eight years ago, Olle
Larrson and Dr. Carl Kjeldsberg,
founded Salt Lake’s Rowmark
Ski Academy, which has since
become one of the top ski acad-emies and has produced world
champions, Olympians and hundreds of alumni that have gone
on to accomplish great things
outside of skiing. Now, at 65, the
longtime ski coach and charismatic Swede has decided to retire from Rowmark.
“I like to do and learn other things,” said Larsson with his trademark, infectious laugh.
“I’ve spent a huge amount of time at Rowmark and I feel like I am ready for other things.
I can’t start doing other things for too much longer it will be too hard when I’m 85.”
Over the course of his career, Larsson went from working as a carpenter and testing skis
for Rossignol, to coaching the Canadian women’s World Cup team and publishing ski
technique books. After serving as the Rowmark director for 22 years, he stepped down
to a coaching role in 2002.
“When you work with young people, you have the freedom to work in a laboratory setting where you test out a lot of different ideas if you’re inclined to do so,” said Larsson.
“With the young athletes, I’ve always told them that if you believe in something strongly
and nobody else does, you go ahead and do it regardless of the opinion of others.”
Larsson said he is thankful for the reception he’s been given in the U.S. “The people
of this country, both athletes and coaches, have been incredibly welcoming of me,” says
Larsson. “People have never given me a hard time for being a foreigner and that’s unique;
FORERUNNER
OUT OF THE GATE
that would not be the same way in Europe. I am very thankful
of how tolerant and accepting everyone has been of me com-
ing from a different country and working here, it’s been very
special to me.”
Then there was the Olle Fest reception — a big, mid-March
party that saw current and past students of Rowmark as well
as many friends gather at Park City Mountain Resort. The
theme of the event was “every day is a gift,” one of Larsson’s
favorite sayings.
Keely Kelleher arrived at the event only a few days after cap-
turing the national GS title, and said that Larsson had made
the biggest impression on her of any of her coaches and always
knew how to inspire a top performance with his positive at-
titude and smile.
Larsson said plans to spend his newfound free time travel-
ing, including a trip to Europe to watch former student Levi
Leipheimer compete in the Tour de France. He will also make
time to stay close the program he formed. “If they need vol-
unteer help, I’ll be there,” he said, before adding, “when I’m
in town.”
For a closer look at Olle Larsson, go here:
http://www.rowlandhall.org/schoollife/rowmark/video_olle/
Olle Larsson shares the gift of a day with Hank Shipman
and Tristan McInnis in Utah.
DARTMOUTH SKI HISTORY BOOK PUBLISHED
The Big Green has just released a
big book about its ski history. Some
414 pages are dedicated to telling
“the story of how one small college,
Dartmouth College, has been the
dominant institution in the development of modern skiing.” And yes,
Dartmouth does deserve plenty of
bragging rights; as author Stephen
Waterhouse (who graduated from
the Big Green in 1967) writes, Dartmouth gave shape to ski clubs; its
alumni went on to develop resorts
throughout the United States; and
it churns out racer after racer. Collaborators including Douglas C.
Leitch, Jim Collins and Dick Dur-
rance II help explain the college’s
leadership role in the sport.
Jim Page, an Olympian who was
a Dartmouth ski team captain and
coach, writes the in-depth chapter
on ski racing, beginning with the
first presentation of the Winter
Carnival Cup in 1922 and ending
with the college’s NCAA Champion-
ship team in 2007. Guess we’ll have
to wait for Vol. 2 to hear about the
bronze for Dartmouth’s Andrew
Weibrecht at the 2010 Olympics.
For more information and to order a copy of the
book, visit passionforskiing.com
