Ove Aunli qualified for the Norwegian World Championship team at Lahti in 1978, and won a bronze medal as a member of the Norwegian relay team. Two years later he placed third in the 15 km event at the Lake Placid Olympics, and added a silver medal in the relay. At Oslo in 1982 Aunli finally won a World Championship gold medal in the relay, and two years later in Seefeld anchored the Norwegian team to victory in a close battle with Italy’s Giuseppe Ploner. Aunli struggled at the Sarajevo Olympics in 1984, when, after recording the fifth best time in the 15 km event, he was disqualified for using the skating technique during the last 200 m, and in the 50 km he failed to finish. In the relay the Norwegian team was outside the medals for the first time in 20 years, placing a disappointing fourth.
Aunli’s last international medal came in the relay at the 1987 World Championships, when the Norwegian team finished third. His only national championship title came in 1985 when he won the 30 km. He was third in the overall World Cup both in 1981 and 1985, and ended his international career after the 1987 season. Ove Aunli married future World and Olympic Champion Berit Kvello in 1979. They later ran a sport shop together in Ove’s birthplace Kyrksæterøra.
Norway