Bente Skari, née Martinsen, (born 10 September 1972 in Oslo) is a former cross country skier from Nittedal, Norway. She is one of the most successful cross country skiers ever.

She won her first Olympic medals in 1998, and won her first gold medal in the 2002 Winter Olympics, coming from behind to beat the favourites Olga Danilova and Julija Tchepalova in the last kilometers of the 10 km classical event. She also won a bronze medal in 30 km classical as well as a silver medal in the relay.

Additionally, she won five gold medals (5 km: 1999, 10 km: 2001, 2003, and 15 km: 2001, 2003) from the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, as well as two silver (4 x 5 km: 1997, 2001) medals. She won the overall cross-country skiing World Cup four times before retiring after the 2002/2003 season.

Skari also won the women's 30 km event at the Holmenkollen ski festival in 2003. In 2001 she received the Holmenkollen medal (shared with Adam Małysz and Thomas Alsgaard). Her father, Odd Martinsen, earned the Holmenkollen medal in 1969. They are the only father-daughter combination to ever win this prestigious honour.

Abid Qayyum Raja (born 5 November 1975 in Oslo) is a Norwegian lawyer and politician of Pakistani descent.

He has since 2008 been office bearer {www.une.no} as Board Leader of Norwegian Immigration Appeals Board. Currently he is on leave and serving as Police Presecutor at National Police Immigration Service. Previously he has worked as a criminal defence lawyer for four years and been civil case litigator for two. He has appeared on many televised debates, and has written op-eds in national newspapers.^{[citation needed]} He has voiced opposition to prearranged marriages.^{[citation needed]}. He has also written two books; Spokesman i 2008 (Aschehoug publishers house )and Dialogue in 2010 (CappelenDamm publishers).

As a child growing up in Norway he was subjected to corporal punishment by his Pakistani parents and as a result contacted child protective services on his own, who took him into protective care for six months. He has been an ardent opponent of spanking and corporal punishment of children ever since.

Justyna Kowalczyk (pronounced [jusˈtɨna kɔˈvalt​͡ʂɨk] ( listen), born January 19, 1983) is a Polish cross country skier who has been competing since 2000. She is one of the most successful cross country skiers of all time, being the only skier in the history with victories in all the most important sport events, so called "The Big Crown": Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cup and Tour de Ski.

Kowalczyk is an Olympic Champion and a double World Champion. She is also the only skier who won the Tour de Ski three times in a row and one of two female skiers, who won the FIS Cross-Country World Cup three times in a row (the other one being Finn Marjo Matikainen). Kowalczyk holds the all-time record for the most wins in Tour de Ski with 10 competitions won.

Kowalczyk finished second in the individual sprint at the 2003 World Junior Championships. She finished 31st in the individual sprint event at the 2003 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. Recently in Canmore, Canada, on Jan 22, 2008, Justyna Kowalczyk won the race for her second World Cup triumph. She followed in Canmore with two more bronze medals in the same World Cup event. Kowalczyk was 3rd in the 2007 World Cup.

Marit Bjørgen (born March 21, 1980 in Trondheim) is a Norwegian cross country skier and triple olympic champion from Midtre Gauldal, Norway. Bjørgen is the most successful sprinter in Cross-Country World Cup history, with twenty-four victories. She is ranked first in the all-time Cross-Country World Cup rankings with fifty-five individual victories. One of her most notable achievements was becoming the most successful athlete at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, by winning five medals, including three gold medals.

She is a member of the Rognes IL ski club and is 5'6" (168 cm) tall, weighs 141 lb (64 kg), and is coached by Svein Tore Samdal.

Bjørgen initially excelled at the sprint events, and seven victories in that event was enough to give her second place overall in the 2003/04 World Cup season. However in the 2004/05 season, Bjørgen became an accomplished distance skier.

On March 19, 2006 in Sapporo, Japan Bjørgen claimed her second FIS World Cup title. Bjørgen led the overall World Cup by 66 points, ahead of Canada's Beckie Scott going into the final race of the season, the 2 x 7.5 km double pursuit. Scott needed to win the race and for Bjørgen to finish no higher than eighth to claim the title. Scott did win the race but Bjørgen came fourth, winning the crystal globe with 1036 points to Scott's 1020. Bjørgen also won the sprint title for the season, 6 points ahead of Norway's Ella Gjømle, making the 2005/06 season the fourth season in a row that Bjørgen has won the sprint title. Bjørgen finished the distance standings in fourth place, 108 points behind Russia's Julija Tchepalova.