Gustaf "Gösta" Richard Mikael Holmér (23 September 1891 – 22 April 1983) 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 ...

athlete who competed in the 1912 and 1920 Olympics. In 1912 he won a bronze medal in the decathlon and placed eighth in the pentathlon, despite not running the 1500 m stage. In 1920, he placed fourth in the decathlon and was eliminated in the first round of the 110 m hurdles event. Nationally Holmér won Swedish titles in the pentathlon (1912–13, 1915, 1917 and 1920), decathlon (1913 and 1917–19) and 110 m hurdles (1913). In the 1912 Olympic decathlon Holmér finished fourth, but was awarded a bronze medal after the winner

Jim Thorpe James Francis Thorpe ( Sac and Fox (Sauk): ''Wa-Tho-Huk'', translated as "Bright Path"; May 22 or 28, 1887March 28, 1953) was an American athlete and Olympic gold medalist. A member of the Sac and Fox Nation, Thorpe was the first Native ...

was disqualified for having played semi-professional baseball. Thorpe was reinstated as a winner in 1982, and Holmér was moved down to the fourth place, yet he retained a bronze medal. In the 1930s, while coaching the downtrodden Swedish cross-country team, Holmér developed the

fartlek Fartlek ( Swedish, "speed play", originally in upper case, now generally in lower case), otherwise known as the ''Swedish natural method'' or simply the ''Swedish method'', is a middle and long distance runner's training approach developed in th ...

interval training Interval training is a type of training exercise that involves a series of high-intensity workouts interspersed with rest or relief periods. The high-intensity periods are typically at or close to anaerobic exercise, while the recovery periods inv ...

technique.Joe Schatzle, Jr. (November 2002
"Finding Fartlek: The history and how-to of speed play"
. ''Running Times Magazine'' His concept was faster-than-race-pace and concentrated on simultaneous

speed In everyday use and in kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a scalar quanti ...

endurance Endurance (also related to sufferance, resilience, constitution, fortitude, and hardiness) is the ability of an organism to exert itself and remain active for a long period of time, as well as its ability to resist, withstand, recover from a ...

training. The technique proved successful and has been adopted by many

physiologists Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...

since then. Holmér was the father of

Hans Holmér Hans Gillis Åke Holmér (28 December 1930 – 4 October 2002) was a Swedish civil servant and author. Holmér served as Chief of the Swedish Security Service (SÄPO) and later Chief Commissioner (''länspolismästare'') of Stockholm County ...

, who headed the special unit investigating the assassination of the Swedish Prime Minister

Olof Palme Sven Olof Joachim Palme (; ; 30 January 1927 – 28 February 1986) was a Swedish politician and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1969 to 1976 and 1982 to 1986. Palme led the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969 until h ...

in 1986.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holmer, Gosta 1891 births 1983 deaths Athletes (track and field) at the 1912 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1920 Summer Olympics Swedish decathletes Olympic athletes of Sweden Olympic bronze medalists for Sweden Medalists at the 1912 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic decathletes