Jan Staubo (28 September 1920 – 15 June 2003) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

sportsman, politician and sports official. As a sportsman he competed internationally in tennis and nationally in other sports. He was a member of the city council of Norway's capital, and a member of the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

for 34 years.

Personal life

He was born in

Kristiania 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 ...

as a son of ship-owner Helmer Staubo and Wanda Næss, and younger brother of ship-owner Knut Helmer Staubo. In Sep 1937 to Dec 1937 he attended Felsted school in Essex, England. In 1962 he married Sally Calvert, an american citizen. They have two daughters, Kari and Lina.

Career

Staubo took secondary education at Oslo Commerce School in 1940. During the

Second World War 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 ...

he fought in the Norwegian Campaign and was later an air pilot in exile, and was imprisoned by the Germans for about three years in total. He tried to escape several times, one time being shot and having to amputate a

lung The lungs are the primary organs of the respiratory system in humans and most other animals, including some snails and a small number of fish. In mammals and most other vertebrates, two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of t ...

. He first tried to escape from Norway to neutral Sweden in 1941, but was arrested in

Verdal Verdal is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Innherad region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Verdalsøra. Some villages in the municipality include Forbregd/Lein, Lysthaugen, Stiklest ...

and imprisoned in

Vollan prison Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most pop ...

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, and ...

. After escaping from there he fled to

Shetland Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the no ...

on the fishcutter ''Sigurd'' in 1941, together with

Joachim Rønneberg Joachim Holmboe Rønneberg (30 August 1919 – 21 October 2018) was a Norwegian Army Officer (armed forces), officer and broadcaster. He was known for his Norwegian resistance movement, resistance work during World War II, most notably commandin ...

and others. He went via London to

Little Norway Little Norway ( no, Lille Norge), officially (FTL, "Air Force Training Camp"), was a Norwegian Army Air Service/Royal Norwegian Air Force training camp in southern Ontario during the Second World War. Origins When Nazi Germany attacked Norway o ...

, where he was trained as a pilot and joined the

No. 332 Squadron RAF ("Together in battle") , equipment= Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II , equipment_label= Aircraft, identification_symbol= A demi-Norwegian axe , battle_honours= Number 332 Squadron of the Royal Air Force was formed at RAF Catterick in the No ...

. He was shot down on 19 August 1942 in a

Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Griff ...

by a

Focke-Wulf Fw 190 The Focke-Wulf Fw 190, nicknamed ''Würger'' (" Shrike") is a German single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed by Kurt Tank at Focke-Wulf in the late 1930s and widely used during World War II. Along with its well-known counterpart, ...

near

Dieppe Dieppe (; Norman: ''Dgieppe'') is a coastal commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth of the river Arques. A regular ferry service runs to Newha ...

, and was captured by Germans again. He was imprisoned in

Stalag Luft III , partof = ''Luftwaffe'' , location = Sagan, Lower Silesia, Nazi Germany (now Żagań, Poland) , image = , caption = Model of the set used to film the movie ''The Great Escape.'' It depicts a smaller version of a single compound in ''Stalag ...

, and helped with preparing the "Great Escape", but was moved to another camp before the escape actually took place. As a tennis player he won the Norwegian singles championships in 1948 and 1950. He represented

IF Ready Idrettsforeningen Ready is a sports club in Vestre Aker, Oslo, Norway. The club was established on June 14, 1907 by Aage Blom Lorentzen. The football club play their home games at Gressbanen in Oslo. Gressbanen was the arena for the Norway n ...

, and won the national team championship with them in 1953. He won two indoor championships. He competed in the 1946 US Open and the

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country in ...

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – Luis ...

and 1950 Wimbledon Championships. He also invited former Stalag inmate

Eric Sturgess Eric William Sturgess (10 May 1920 – 14 January 2004) was a South African male tennis player and winner of six Grand Slam doubles titles. He also reached the singles final of a Grand Slam tournament three times but never won. Sturgess was ra ...

from South Africa to play in Norway on several occasions. Staubo was also a national team player in

bandy Bandy is a winter sport and ball sport played by two teams wearing ice skates on a large ice surface (either indoors or outdoors) while using sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The international governing body for bandy is ...

, and he played

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

. He was also chairman of IF Ready for some time. He served as chairman of the

Norwegian Tennis Federation Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

for some time, and was a board member of the

Norwegian Confederation of Sports The Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Confederation of Sports ( no, Norges idrettsforbund og olympiske og paralympiske komité; NIF) is the umbrella organization for sport in Norway. It is the largest volunteering organization in No ...

. Internationally he was a member of the

from 1966 to 2000. He took over for

Olaf Ditlev-Simonsen Olaf Christian Ditlev-Simonsen Jr. (2 January 1897 – 19 February 1978) was a Norwegian sailor, footballer, sports administrator and businessperson. Early and personal life He was born in Dypvåg to ship-owner Olaf Ditlev-Simonsen (1865–19 ...

, in a tradition since 1905 that Norway had one IOC member at any time. However, in 1992 Olaf Paulsen took a second seat (which he left in 1995), and in 1994

Gerhard Heiberg Jens Gerhard Heiberg (born 20 April 1939, in Oslo) is a Norwegian industrialist who was head of the Lillehammer Olympic Organizing Committee (LOOC) and member of the International Olympic Committee. Education Heiberg received a graduate degree in ...

took a third seat. Staubo became an honorary member of the IOC after retiring at the age of 80. A board member of the Lillehammer Olympic Organising Committee, he is said to have contributed to the

1994 Winter Olympics The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games ( no, De 17. olympiske vinterleker; nn, Dei 17. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, was an international winter multi-sport event held fro ...

being held in Norway, and also to the establishing of the

Norwegian Olympic Museum Norwegian Olympic Museum (''Norges Olympiske Museum'') is located at Maihaugen in Lillehammer, Norway. The Norwegian Olympic Museum shows the history of the Olympic Games in ancient and modern times, with a focus on the 1952 Winter Olympics ...

. He was a member of Oslo city council from 1961 to 1967 for the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

. He held the rank of lieutenant colonel. In his professional career Staubo was a ship-owner. He was a deputy chairman of the

Oslo Port Authority ''Oslo Port Authority'' ( no, Oslo Havn KF) is a kommunalt foretak (municipal enterprise), and accountable to the Municipality of Oslo. For many years, Oslo Havn KF was known as ''Oslo havnevesen (OHV)'' but was renamed on June 8, 2004, to its cu ...

, deputy board member of the

Norwegian Shipowners' Association The Norwegian Shipowners Association () is an employers' organization and interest group for Norwegian shipping and offshore companies. The organization's primary fields are national and international industry policies, employer issues, competenc ...

and a member of the marine committee of the

International Chamber of Shipping The International Chamber of Shipping is one of the world's principal shipping organisations, representing around 80% of the world's merchant tonnage through membership by national shipowners' associations. It is concerned with maritime regulatory, ...

. He established the electronics company Statronic in

Kilsund Kilsund is a village in Arendal municipality in Agder county, Norway. The village is located on the island of Tverrdalsøya, although the village has grown over the bridge onto the nearby island of Flostaøya a short distance to the south. The ...

in the 1960s; the company later changed its name to Kitron, merged with Sonec and moved to Sonec's locality at

Hisøy Hisøy (historically: ''Hisø'') is a former municipality in the old Aust-Agder county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1881 until 1992 when it was merged into the municipality of Arendal in what is now Agder county. At the time of its ...

. Staubo lived at a farm in Staubø in his later life. He died in June 2003.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Staubo, Jan 1920 births 2003 deaths Norwegian Army personnel of World War II Norwegian Army Air Service personnel of World War II Norwegian World War II pilots Norwegian Royal Air Force pilots of World War II Norwegian expatriates in Canada Shot-down aviators Norwegian prisoners of war in World War II World War II prisoners of war held by Germany Vollan concentration camp survivors Norwegian escapees Escapees from German detention Norwegian male tennis players Norwegian bandy players Norwegian ice hockey players Norwegian sports executives and administrators Norwegian International Olympic Committee members Politicians from Oslo Conservative Party (Norway) politicians Businesspeople from Oslo in shipping Sportspeople from Oslo