Finnbjörn Þorvaldsson (25 May 1924 – 9 July 2018) was an Icelandic

multi-sport athlete A multi-sport athlete is an athlete who competes or trains two or more different sports. Most of these athletes played two or more sports from a young age – especially in high school – before deciding to usually concentrate on just one sport p ...

who competed in

sprinting Sprinting is running over a short distance at the top-most speed of the body in a limited period of time. It is used in many sports that incorporate running, typically as a way of quickly reaching a target or goal, or avoiding or catching an op ...

in the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ca ...

. He also won national championships in both handball and basketball with

Íþróttafélag Reykjavíkur Íþróttafélag Reykjavíkur or ÍR (English: Reykjavik Athletic Club) is an Icelandic multi-sport club, based in the suburb of Breiðholt in Reykjavík. It has teams in football, handball, basketball, athletics, tenpin bowling, skiing, karate, ...

Early life

Finnbjörn was born in

Hnífsdalur Hnífsdalur () is a small village in the municipality of Ísafjarðarbær, located between Bolungarvík and Ísafjörður. The literal meaning of the name is "Knife's Valley". Some guess that the thin or sharp line of the mountain range resembles t ...

Westfjords The Westfjords or West Fjords ( is, Vestfirðir , ISO 3166-2:IS: IS-4) is a large peninsula in northwestern Iceland and an administrative district, the least populous administrative district. It lies on the Denmark Strait, facing the east coast ...

. At a young age he moved to

Ísafjörður Ísafjörður (pronounced , meaning ''ice fjord'', literally ''fjord of ices'') is a town in the northwest of Iceland. The oldest part of Ísafjörður with the town centre is located on a spit of sand, or ''eyri'', in Skutulsfjörður, a fjord ...

an later to

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...

with his parents.

Sports career

Finnbjörn was best known for his achievements in

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

, especially in

where won several national and nordic championships. He was the flag bearer for Iceland at the

where he competed in sprinting. He also competed in

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

. He won the Icelandic national championship in handball in 1946 with

after scoring the winning goal in ÍR's 20–19 victory against

Haukar Knattspyrnufélagið Haukar ( en, Hawks F.C.) is an Icelandic multi-sport club from Hafnarfjörður with divisions in Football, Handball, Basketball, Karate, Skiing & Chess. Club history The club was founded on 12 April 1931, when 13 young boys ...

. In

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

, Finnbjörn won the national championship in basketball with ÍR's basketball team.

Death

Finnbjörn died on 9 July 2018 at the age of 94.

References

1924 births 2018 deaths Athletes (track and field) at the 1948 Summer Olympics Finnbjorn Thorvaldsson Finnbjorn Thorvaldsson Finnbjorn Thorvaldsson Finnbjorn Thorvaldsson Finnbjorn Thorvaldsson Finnbjorn Thorvaldsson Finnbjorn Thorvaldsson {{Iceland-athletics-bio-stub