Emil Edvin Wide (22 February 1896 – 19 June 1996) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

middle-distance and long-distance runner.

Biography

Born in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

as Emil Edvin Hermansson, Wide moved to Sweden in 1918. He competed for Sweden at the

1920 Summer Olympics The 1920 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1920; nl, Olympische Zomerspelen van 1920; german: Olympische Sommerspiele 1920), officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la VIIe olympiade; nl, Spelen van ...

in the 3000 metre team event, winning a bronze medal, together with

Eric Backman Eric Natanael Backman (18 May 1896 – 29 June 1965) was a Sweden, Swedish long distance runner who had his best achievements at the 1920 Summer Olympics. He won the silver medal in the 8,000 m cross-country race, 2.6 seconds behind the legendar ...

and

Sven Lundgren Sven Emil Lundgren (29 September 1896 – 18 June 1960) was a Sweden, Swedish middle-distance runner who competed in the 800 m, 1500 and 3000 m events at the 1920 and 1924 Olympics. He had his best results in 1920, when he won a bronze medal in ...

. At the 1924 Olympics he won a silver medal in the 10,000 m behind

Ville Ritola Vilho "Ville" Eino Ritola (18 January 1896 – 24 April 1982) was a Finnish long-distance runner. Known as one of the "Flying Finns", he won five Olympic gold medals and three Olympic silver medals in the 1920s. He holds the record of winning ...

. He also finished third in the 5,000 m, behind Ville Ritola and

Paavo Nurmi Paavo Johannes Nurmi (; 13 June 1897 – 2 October 1973) was a Finnish middle-distance and long-distance runner. He was called the "Flying Finn" or the "Phantom Finn", as he dominated distance running in the 1920s. Nurmi set 22 official world r ...

. At the

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics ( nl, Olympische Zomerspelen 1928), officially known as the Games of the IX Olympiad ( nl, Spelen van de IXe Olympiade) and commonly known as Amsterdam 1928, was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from ...

the 5,000 metre medals went to the same people as in 1924, only the Finns swapped medals, leaving Edvin with his third Olympic bronze medal. He then finished behind the same two yet again for the third time in Olympic competition to win the bronze medal in the 10,000 metres. Nationally Wide won 12 Swedish titles: five in the cross country (1922–26), four in the 1,500 m and three in the 5,000 m, and held Swedish records over 1,500 m, 5,000 m and 10,000 m. He also held world records in non-Olympic 4 × 1500 m, 2000 m and 3000 m events, and won the United States two-mile indoor championships in 1929. Wide lived most of hist life near

Enköping Enköping is a locality and the seat of Enköping Municipality, Uppsala County, Sweden with 30,000 inhabitants in 2018. Geography Enköping is situated near Lake Mälaren, about 78 km west of Stockholm. A comparably large number of Swedi ...

, where he worked as a school teacher and then headmaster. In 1926 he was awarded the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal. He retired from competitions in 1930. Wide died at the age of 100. He was survived by wife Axelina (age 99) and two sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wide, Edvin 1896 births 1996 deaths People from Kimitoön Athletes (track and field) at the 1920 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1924 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1928 Summer Olympics Swedish male long-distance runners Olympic athletes of Sweden Olympic bronze medalists for Sweden Olympic silver medalists for Sweden Swedish centenarians World record setters in athletics (track and field) Medalists at the 1928 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1924 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1920 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic cross country runners Finnish emigrants to Sweden Men centenarians