Hans Gerschwiler (21 June 1920 – 27 September 2017) was a Swiss

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

. He was the 1948 Olympic silver medalist

Career

Gerschwiler made his international debut at the 1939 European Championships, where he placed 5th. Between 1939 and 1947, no international skating competitions were held, due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Gerschwiler had been living in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

with his uncle and coach

Jacques Gerschwiler Jacques Gerschwiler (10 September 1898 – 4 May 2000) was a Swiss figure skater and coach. Among his students were Cecilia Colledge, Jeannette Altwegg, Sally Stapleford, Bridget Adams, Barbara Wyatt, and Jacqueline Harbord. Born in Arbon, ...

when the war broke out. When his uncle was called home to Switzerland, Gerschwiler stayed with Cecilia Colledge's family. He spent the war years working as a factory worker and fire watcher and was able to practice skating only once a week. Following the War, Gerschwiler emerged as one of the dominant skaters of the time. Gerschwiler won the 1947

World Figure Skating Championships The World Figure Skating Championships (''"Worlds"'') is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union. Medals are awarded in the categories of single skating, men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ...

and European Figure Skating Championships. He also won the silver medal at the

1948 Winter Olympics The 1948 Winter Olympics, officially known as the V Olympic Winter Games (german: V. Olympische Winterspiele; french: Ves Jeux olympiques d'hiver; it, V Giochi olimpici invernali; rm, V Gieus olimpics d'enviern) and commonly known as St. Moritz ...

St. Moritz St. Moritz (also german: Sankt Moritz, rm, , it, San Maurizio, french: Saint-Moritz) is a high Alpine resort town in the Engadine in Switzerland, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is Upper Engadine's major town and a municipality in ...

and came in second at the 1948 European Championships, both time finishing behind Dick Button. He was coached by his uncle

Arnold Gerschwiler Arnold Gerschwiler OBE (28 May 1914 – 22 August 2003) was a Swiss (later, British) figure skating coach. Personal life Gerschwiler was born in Arbon, Switzerland. He was the half-brother of Jacques Gerschwiler and the uncle of Hans Gersch ...

. Gerschwiler was considered to be a beautiful free-skater and one of the best school-skaters in the world at the time. He turned professional after the

. Until Stéphane Lambiel won his first world title in 2005, Gerschwiler was the only Swiss man ever to have been World Champion. He and Lambiel are the only Swiss figure skaters ever to have won a silver medal at the Olympics. The only other Swiss skater to medal at the Olympics was

Georges Gautschi Georges Harold Roger Gautschi (6 April 1904 – 12 February 1985) was a Swiss figure skater. He won the bronze medal in men's singles at age nineteen at the 1924 Chamonix Olympics. He went on to come in third at the 1926 European Figure Skatin ...

who won bronze in

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hol ...

. Following Lambiel's win in 2005, Gerschwiler sent him a congratulatory message.

Results

References

Skatabase: 1930s Europeans

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gerschwiler, Hans 1921 births 2017 deaths Swiss male single skaters Figure skaters at the 1948 Winter Olympics Olympic figure skaters of Switzerland Olympic silver medalists for Switzerland Olympic medalists in figure skating World Figure Skating Championships medalists European Figure Skating Championships medalists Medalists at the 1948 Winter Olympics People from Winterthur Sportspeople from the canton of Zürich