Benny Gotfred Schmidt (born 25 June 1929) is a Danish

modern pentathlete The modern pentathlon is an Olympic sport consisting of fencing (one-touch épée), freestyle swimming, equestrian show jumping, pistol shooting, and cross country running. The event is inspired by the traditional pentathlon held during the anci ...

. He competed at the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

, where he also served as the Danish flag bearer.

Biography

Schmidt started as a sprinter and won the national 4×100 m title in 1953, finishing third over 100 m and 200 m in 1954. He then changed to horse riding and pentathlon and won the national

show jumping Show jumping is a part of a group of English riding equestrianism, equestrian events that also includes dressage, eventing, Show hunter, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes are commonly seen at horse shows throughout the world, including th ...

championships in 1956–59. Swimming was his weak part though, and at the 1960 Olympics he used

breaststroke Breaststroke is a swimming style in which the swimmer is on their chest and the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to the swimmer's head being out of the water a large portion of the time, and that it can be s ...

instead of conventional crawl. He also performed below his level in shooting, and placed 47th out of 60 overall. Schmidt was a career military officer; he held the rank of

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

in 1960 and retired as

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

. After the Olympics he served for four years at

Allied Forces Northern Europe Allied Forces Northern Europe (AFNORTH) was the northern Major Subordinate Command of NATO's Allied Command Europe (ACE), located at Kolsås outside Oslo. In the case of war with the Soviet Union, AFNORTH would assume supreme command of all Allie ...

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

, Norway, and later was assigned to the

Danish Defence Intelligence Service The Danish Defence Intelligence Service, DDIS ( da, Forsvarets Efterretningstjeneste, FE), is a Danish intelligence agency, responsible for Denmark’s foreign intelligence, as well as being the Danish military intelligence service. DDIS is an ag ...

. In 1987 he was awarded the

Order of the Dannebrog The Order of the Dannebrog ( da, Dannebrogordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single class known a ...

(Knight's Cross of the first degree).Horsensdreng blev atlet og fanebærer ved OL i Rom
horsensidraetsarkiv.dk

References

External links

* 1929 births Living people Danish male modern pentathletes Olympic modern pentathletes for Denmark Modern pentathletes at the 1960 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Horsens {{Denmark-modern-pentathlon-bio-stub