He won the first Olympic
ski jumping gold medal in
1924, and became the third person (after
Gillis Grafström who competed in one sport only and boxer/bobsleigh crew member
Eddie Eagan) to medal in both the Winter and Summer Olympics in
1936 as a member of the silver medal-winning Norwegian 8-metre sailing team. Thams also won the individual large hill at the
1926 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in
Lahti, earned the
Holmenkollen medal in 1926 (the first true ski jumper to do so), and would develop the
Kongsberger technique in ski jumping (along with fellow Norwegian
Sigmund Ruud) that would be the standard until it was superseded by the
Daescher technique in the 1950s. Thams is one of the few
athletes who have competed in both the Summer and Winter Olympic games. ==Ski jumping world records==