Holger Louis Nielsen (18 December 1866 in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

– 26 January 1955 in

Hellerup Hellerup () is a very affluent district of Gentofte Municipality in the suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark. The most urban part of the district is centred on Strandvejen and is bordered by Østerbro to the south and the Øresund to the east. It compr ...

) was a Danish fencer,

sport shooter Shooting sports is a group of competitive and recreational sporting activities involving proficiency tests of accuracy, precision and speed in shooting — the art of using ranged weapons, mainly small arms (firearms and airguns, in forms such a ...

, and

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

. He competed at the

1896 Summer Olympics The 1896 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 1896, Therinoí Olympiakoí Agónes 1896), officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 1ης Ολυμπιάδας, Agónes tis 1is Ol ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. He is probably best known for drawing up the first modern set of rules for the game of

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 ...

Fencing

Nielsen's main sport was fencing, in which he competed in the

sabre A sabre ( French: �sabʁ or saber in American English) is a type of backsword with a curved blade associated with the light cavalry of the early modern and Napoleonic periods. Originally associated with Central European cavalry such as th ...

. At Athens, Nielsen placed third in the sabre event. He split his matches in the five-man, round-robin tournament. Nielsen defeated

Adolf Schmal Felix Adolf Schmal (18 September 1872 – 28 August 1919) was an Austrian fencer and racing cyclist. He was born in Dortmund and died in Salzburg. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens. 1896 Olympics With a fencing mask, sabre ...

and

Georgios Iatridis Georgios Iatridis was a Greek fencer. He participated in the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens. Iatridis competed in the sabre event. In the five-man, round-robin tournament, he lost all four of his matches. He was defeated by Ioannis Georgiadis, A ...

, but lost to

Telemachos Karakalos Telemachos Karakalos ( el, Τηλέμαχος Καράκαλος, Dimitsana 1866 – 15 June 1951) was a Greek fencer. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens. Karakalos competed in the men's sabre event. In the five-man, round- ...

and

Ioannis Georgiadis Ioannis Georgiadis (29 March 1876 – 17 May 1960) was a Greece, Greek fencing, fencer. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, the 1906 Intercalated Games, 1906 Intercalated Olympics and the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. In 1896 Ge ...

. This 2-2 record put Nielsen in third place.

Firearms competitions

In the military rifle event, Nielsen quit the competition after the first day. He had shot 20 times out of the full 40, though his score was unknown. Nielsen placed fifth in the military pistol event. He won a bronze medal in the rapid fire pistol, coming in last of the three shooters that finished the competition. His best result of the Games was a surprise

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

in the free pistol competition; his score of 285 was far behind Sumner Paine's 442 but was sufficient to defeat the other three shooters in the event. His scores for each of the five strings of 6 shots were 12, 85, 62, 24, and 100.

Discus

Nielsen also competed in the discus throw. He did not place among the top four in the event, though records are unclear as to which place between fifth and last (ninth) he received.

Other activities

Nielsen is also credited with developing an early set of rules for

in 1898, and with developing a form of external

cardiopulmonary resuscitation Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure consisting of chest compressions often combined with artificial ventilation in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures are taken to restore spont ...

called the Holger Nielsen method in 1932. The National Research Council gave support to this method in 1951, however, it was superseded by mouth to mouth resuscitation in recommendations of 1958. (Artificial Respiration, the history of an idea. A B Baker Med Hist. 1971 15(4): 336-351)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nielsen, Holger Olympic athletes of Denmark Olympic fencers of Denmark Olympic shooters of Denmark Athletes (track and field) at the 1896 Summer Olympics 19th-century sportsmen Fencers at the 1896 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 1896 Summer Olympics Danish male discus throwers Danish male sabre fencers Danish male sport shooters ISSF rifle shooters ISSF pistol shooters 1866 births 1955 deaths Olympic silver medalists for Denmark Olympic bronze medalists for Denmark Olympic medalists in fencing Olympic medalists in shooting Medalists at the 1896 Summer Olympics Creators of sports History of handball Cardiopulmonary resuscitation Sportspeople from Copenhagen