Åge Storhaug

Åge Storhaug is considered Norway’s greatest gymnast. He was national champion 14 times from 1958 to 1972, missing only 1965, when he had to withdraw due to injury, and he won all six Nordic Championships in the period 1961-71. He won a silver medal in vault at the 1965 European Championships, where he also placed fifth in the Individual all-around. Storhaug competed at the 1960 and 1964 Olympics, with a best placing of 14th on pommelled horse in Tokyo.

Storhaug was born on a farm in southwestern Norway in 1938. After World War II he started his gymnastic training in a hay barn on the farm with his father Lars as a coach. In his junior days he also competed in athletics, clocking 15.5 for the 110 m hurdles in 1957. His older brother Lars was a bronze medalist at the 1958 Norwegian Championships in the same event, recording 15.1 as his personal best.

Storhaug studied economics in Köln (Cologne), Germany from 1962-67, while training with top gymnasts from Germany and Japan. From 1974 -83 he was national coach for Norway, and then coached in Germany, Spain, Brazil, Greece, South Africa, and Brazil. He was especially interested in languages, and spoke nine different ones fluently. In 1966 he published a book about his gymnastic career, Med helskru. In 2008 Storhaug was awarded The King’s Merit Medal for his lifetime work for Norwegian Gymnastics. He died from cancer in 2012 at age 74.