Harald "Slaktarn" Andersson (2 April 1907 – 18 May 1985) 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 ...

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disk (mathematics), disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an classical antiqui ...

er. In 1934 he won a European titleHarald Andersson
sports-reference.com and held the

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

for eight months. The same year he was awarded the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal.

Career

Andersson was Swedish champion in every year from 1932 to 1935 and the world's best discus thrower in 1934 and 1935. He broke Paul Jessup's world record of 51.73 m twice in one competition (a dual meet between the Swedish and Norwegian teams in

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 ...

) on 25 August 1934, throwing first 52.20 m and then 52.42 m; the latter mark was officially ratified by the

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...

. At the European Championships in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

two weeks later Andersson threw 50.38 m and won by more than three meters from

Paul Winter Paul Winter (born August 31, 1939) is an American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. He is a pioneer of world music and earth music, which interweaves the voices of the wild with instrumental voices from classical, jazz and world music. The ...

and István Donogán. Andersson lost his world record in April 1935, when Germany's

Willy Schröder Willy Schröder (7 March 1912 – 28 September 1990) was a German athlete who competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics in the men's discus throw event, finishing in 5th place. In 1935 he set a discus world record of 53.10 m in a competition in ...

threw 53.10 m in

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebur ...

; however, he remained the world's top thrower, as Schröder was less consistent at a high level and suffered from health problems over the summer. Andersson won both the Swedish and

AAA Championships The AAA Championships was an annual track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association of England. It was the foremost domestic athletics event in the United Kingdom during its lifetime, despite the existence of the officia ...

titles that year, and on 13 October he improved his Swedish record to 53.02 m in

Örebro Örebro ( , ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, sixth-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Örebro Municipality, and capital of the Örebro County. It is situated by the Närke Plain, near the lake Hjälmaren, a few kilometers in ...

. He was a leading favorite for the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-sp ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, but injured himself before the Games; he attempted to throw in the qualification, but only managed about 38.5 metres and failed to qualify for the final.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Andersson, Harald 1907 births 1985 deaths Swedish male discus throwers Olympic athletes of Sweden Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics European Athletics Championships medalists World record setters in athletics (track and field)