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Irvin and Jon Servold, father and son nordic combined athletes

Broadcast Date: Jan. 13, 1988

It is 1988, and Canada's sole competitor in the nordic combined skiing event at the Calgary Olympics is Jon Servold. He comes by his combined talents of ski jumping and cross-country skiing, the two elements that form this sport, honestly. Both his father and uncle competed for Canada in the same event in the 1960 Olympics, the very year that Jon was born. Father and son are interviewed in this CBC-TV report.

Irvin and Jon Servold, father and son nordic combined athletes

• Jon's uncle (Clarence, born in 1927) and father (Irvin, born in 1932) competed in nordic combined in both the 1956 and 1960 Olympics.

• Although a team event was introduced in nordic combined in the 1988 Calgary Olympics, Canada was unable to field a team, and Jon Servold was Canada's only individual competitor.

• After the 1988 Olympics in Calgary, Canada did not field another competitor in the nordic combined event until the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy. This gap of 18 years is still smaller than the previous gap: Canada fielded no nordic combined athletes between 1960, when Sevold's father and uncle competed, and 1988.

• Jason Myslicki, competing for Canada in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, made a wry reflection on the small pool of nordic combined athletes in Canada when he said, "I've been the oldest guy on the team since I was 17." (Calgary Herald)

• The first major competition in nordic combined was held in Oslo, Norway in 1892. It is one of the few sports that has been in the Winter Olympics since they began in 1924.

Irvin and Jon Servold, father and son nordic combined athletes

Medium: Television

Program: Newsday

Broadcast Date: Jan. 13, 1988

Guest(s): Jon Servold, Irvin Servold

Reporter: Al Nagy

Duration: 2:00

Last updated:
Jan. 12, 2010