Hjalmar Emanuel Lundin (1870Arkiv Digital, Husby-Sjuhundra (AB) AI:22 (1881-1891) Image 440 / page 30 (AID: v85827.b440.s30, NAD: SE/SSA/1517)–1941) 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 ...

wrestler Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat sport ...

and strongman who was for many years the undefeated champion of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Biography

Lundin was born on 22 September 1870 in Husby-Sjuhundra in the

Roslagen Roslagen is the name of the coastal areas of Uppland province in Sweden, which also constitutes the northern part of the Stockholm archipelago. Historically, it was the name for all the coastal areas of the Baltic Sea, including the eastern par ...

area of Sweden. He was one of his country's wrestling pioneers. He later moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

where he started out as a professional "giant" in

Ringling Brothers The Ringling brothers (originally Rüngling) were seven American siblings who transformed their small touring company of performers into one of the largest circuses in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Four brothers ...

circus. Despite his size, Lundin was regarded as a clean and speedy wrestler. On January 21, 1908 Lundin was defeated by World Champion

Frank Gotch Frank Alvin Gotch (April 27, 1877 – December 17, 1917) was an American professional wrestler. Gotch was the first American professional wrestler to win the world heavyweight free-style championship, and he is credited for popularizing professi ...

in Lowell, Massachusetts. In January 1910

Mitsuyo Maeda ,Virgílio, pp. 22–25 a Brazilian naturalized as Otávio Maeda (),Virgílio, p. 9 was a Japanese ''judōka'' (judo practitioner) and prizefighter in no holds barred competitions, also being one of the first documented mixed martial artists of t ...

and Hjalmar Lundin took part in a wrestling tournament in

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Publication

*On the Mat-and Off: Memoirs of a Wrestler (1937)

References

1871 births 1941 deaths Swedish wrestlers {{Sweden-wrestling-bio-stub