Olympic champion skier Sixten Jernberg dies at 83

STOCKHOLM – Sixten Jernberg, a four-time Olympic champion who also captured four gold medals at world championships during his cross country skiing career, has died after a nearly year-long battle with cancer. He was 83.

Jernberg's son, Edy, says the skier passed away early Saturday at a hospital in his hometown of Dalarna in central Sweden.

Jernberg won a total of nine Olympic medals, capturing the first of his four golds in the 50-kilometer race at the Winter Games in Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy in 1956. He also won Olympic gold at Squaw Valley in 1960 and two golds at Innsbruck in 1964. He dominated his sport, specializing in the longer distances, and won a pair of golds at both the 1958 and 1962 world championships.

Funeral arrangements were not immediately available.