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Steira finished fourth in three individual events (10 km, 75 km + 75 km double pursuit, 30 km) at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.
long-distance runner cross-country skier
Steira finished fourth in three individual events (10 km, 75 km + 75 km double pursuit, 30 km) at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.
She competed from 2002 to 2015, and became known in Norwegian media as "the eternal fourth", due to her many finishes in fourth place. At the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, she has seven medals with two gold (4 x 5 km: 2005, 2011), two silvers (75 km + 75 km double pursuit: 2009, 30 km: 2007), and three bronzes (75 km + 7,5 km double pursuit: 2005, 2007. 4 x 5 km: 2007). She has four individual career victories at various levels from 2002 to 2006.
She never did.
In the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, she came eighth in the 10 km pursuit. This, along with her many fourth places previously, led to Norwegian media jokingly labelling her as "the eternal fourth". She qualified for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, where she became 23rd in 15 kilometre skiathlon.
On 20 April 2015, Steira announced her retirement from professional skiing.
In 2009 Steira extended her interests to track athletics and announced her ambition to compete in the 5000 metres at the 2010 European Athletics Championships after achieving a time of 16.02 in Norway. More agonisingly, she achieved her fourth fourth-place Olympic finish in the 15 km pursuit, losing out on a medal by 0.1 seconds in a photo finish with Justyna Kowalczyk. On February 25, 2010, Steira became an Olympic champion in the 4 x 5 km relay, racing in the third leg after Vibeke Skofterud and Therese Johaug and before Marit Bjørgen. In the last event, 30 km mass start freestyle, she finally won the bronze, her only individual medal of the Winter Olympics.
