BIRGIT SKARSTEIN - A PARALYMPIC ATHLETE

 BIRKIN SKARSTEIN

Birgit Lovise Røkkum Skarstein (born 10 February 1989) is a Norwegian Paralympic athlete and social entrepreneur. She has 11 World Championship medals (seven in rowing and four in cross-country skiing) and is the reigning World Champion and Paralympic champion in the rowing class PR1Wx, where she also holds the world record.

Birgit grew up in Levanger, Norway and was active within school politics and activities such as climbing, hiking and swimming. After finishing high school in 2008 she travelled to Thailand to work as a volunteer at an orphanage. Whilst travelling to renew her visa in December 2008, she injured her foot in a diving accident – an accident that required surgery. She was flown home to Norway and underwent several procedures. During one of the procedures she had an injection of anaesthetic into the epidural space of the spine, but it never wore off. She gradually lost the feeling in her legs, making her paralyzed.

Skarstein was appointed by the Norwegian government to serve as a member of the Norwegian Board of Biotechnology for five years (2015-2019). She served four years in the Committee of Finance in the Oslo City Council (2015-2019) and has worked for the Norwegian Labour Party’s Parliamentary group.

Skarstein’s has an academic background in political science and welfare politics. She has been elected leader of the board of the Norwegian national organisation Young Disabled and serves as a board member for the Norwegian Ski Federation and The Savings Banks Foundation DNB. She served ten years as a member of the board of the Sunnaas Foundation where she worked on enabling people with disabilities to master their life situation and live good and active lives. She co-founded the Foundation We together with Therese Johaug and Aker ASA, working with empowering people with disabilities.

She has also worked as a TV presenter for several national TV-shows as well as partnering with strategic corporate businesses working on issues as the future of retail. Skarstein is a Global Shaper, an initiative by the World Economic Forum. She is also serving her second term as an elected athlete representative in the International Paralympic Committees global athletes council.

In rowing at the 2016 Summer Paralympics, she finished fourth in the single sculls event. In cross-country skiing at the 2014 Winter Paralympics, Skarstein competed in the 1 km sprint classic, 5 km free, and 15 km free events. In cross-country skiing at the 2018 Winter Paralympics, she competed in the 1.5 km sprint classic, 7.5 km classic, and 15 km free events.

Skarstein won a gold medal in PR1W1x at the 2017 World Rowing Championships in Sarasota, ahead of Moran Samuel.

In 2019 she qualified to represent Norway at the 2020 Summer Paralympics held in Tokyo, Japan after winning the gold medal in the PR1 Women's single sculls event at the 2019 World Rowing Championships.

In 2021, she won gold at the 2020 Summer Paralympics, in Women's single sculls. She has won the world cup overall title in both rowing and cross country skiing and has several individual world cup wins in both sports. Skarstein was in 2018 elected as a member of the International Paralympic Committee Athletes’ Council, where she in 2022 was re-elected for a second term.

Skarstein is a member of World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers, and was a delegate and speaker at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos in 2022, as well as a panellist and speaker at the Nobel Peace Prize Nobel Week Dialogue on the topic of "Future of life".