Portrait of Toini Gustafsson

Birthday profile

Toini Gustafsson

Swedish cross-country skier

Born
January 17, 1938
Age in 2026
88
Zodiac sign
Capricorn
Birth year
1938

About Toini Gustafsson

Toini Gustafsson Rönnlund (born Toini Karvonen; 17 January 1938) is a Swedish former cross-country skier. She competed in the 1964 and 1968 Winter Olympics and won four medals. Gustafsson also won the 10 km race at the Holmenkollen ski festival in each of 1960, 1967, and 1968. At the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships she collected three medals with a silver in 1962 (3 × 5 km relay) and two bronzes in 1966 (10 km and 3 × 5 km relay). For her successes in Nordic skiing and at the Holmenkollen, Gustafsson received the Holmenkollen medal in 1967 (Shared with Ole Ellefsæter). She is the first Swedish woman to win the Holmenkollen medal. In 1968, she was awarded the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal. She was married twice and had a daughter, Eva, born in 1956. In 1968 she divorced her first husband and married Swedish former cross-country skier Assar Rönnlund, with whom she had two more children. They became the second husband-wife team to win the Holmenkollen medal (Rönnlund earned the medal in 1968). Additionally, they are the only husband-wife team to win the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal. Gustafsson is an ethnic Finn. She was born in Suomussalmi, Finland, but was evacuated to Sweden as a Finnish war child in 1944. She retired from competition in 1968 and later worked as a physical education teacher. She is the paternal grandmother of cross-country skier Elina Rönnlund.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Toini Gustafsson timeline

  1. Gustafsson also won the 10 km race at the Holmenkollen ski festival in each of 1960, 1967, and 1968.
  2. She competed in the 1964 and 1968 Winter Olympics and won four medals.

The world when Toini Gustafsson was born

Toini Gustafsson was born in 1938. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1938

  • #1 song"A-Tisket, A-Tasket" – Ella Fitzgerald
  • Top movieThe Adventures of Robin Hood
  • Best-selling bookRebecca – Daphne du Maurier

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentJoe Louis knocks out Max Schmeling in round 1
  • Top headlineWar of the Worlds broadcast causes nationwide panic
  • Technology milestoneNuclear fission discovered
  • Defining fadSuperman debuts in Action Comics #1
  • Notable inventionInstant coffee (Nescafé)
  • World population2.30 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderFranklin D. Roosevelt
  • Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
  • U.S. population129.8M

1938 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Toini Gustafsson's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19382026
Gas$0.20$3.45/gal
Average home$5,100$435,000
Average income$2,800$67,500
Minimum wage$0.25$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.25$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population129.8M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, International Olympic Committee. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.