Jane Barbro Iréne Cederqvist (1 July 1945 – 15 January 2023) was a Swedish

freestyle Freestyle may refer to: Brands * Reebok Freestyle, a women's athletic shoe * Ford Freestyle, an SUV automobile * Coca-Cola Freestyle, a vending machine * ICD Freestyle, a paintball marker * Abbott FreeStyle, a blood glucose monitor by Abbott La ...

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

. In 1960, she set two world records, won a silver medal at the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

, and became the youngest person and the first woman to receive the

Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal The Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal ( sv, Svenska Dagbladets guldmedalj, but usually simply called ''Bragdguldet'', "The Feat Gold") is an annual award "for the most significant Swedish sports achievement of the year". It has been awarded by a jury le ...

. The following year she retired from swimming and later became a government official.

Biography

Cederqvist grew up in the suburbs of Stockholm. She learned to swim at age 6, and at age 12 started training in a club. Within a few years she became a world top freestyle swimmer, and won a bronze medal at the 1958 Swedish Junior Swimming Championships. She finished second in the 400 m freestyle at the

in Rome, and a few days later set

a new world record ''A New World Record'' is the sixth studio album by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). It was released in October 1976 on United Artists Records in the U.S., and on 19 November 1976 on Jet Records in the United Kingdom. ''A New World Record'' mar ...

in the 1500 m freestyle in Sweden. Just before the games she broke another world record, in the

800 m freestyle 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

. Cederqvist represented SK Neptun. In 1961 she quit swimming to focus on her studies. In 1970 she received her BA and in 1980 a PhD in history with a thesis titled ''Arbetare i strejk: studier rörande arbetarnas politiska mobilisering under industrialismens genombrott: Stockholm 1850–1909'' (Workers on Strike: The Political Mobilisation of the Working Class in Stockholm 1850–1909). She then took various jobs for central and local governments, such as department director at the

Swedish National Audit Office The Swedish National Audit Office ( sv, Riksrevisionen) is the agency responsible for oversight of the state finances through financial and performance audits of state agencies, state-owned companies and the Government of Sweden. It serves direct ...

for six years and then director of the Association of Local Authorities. From 1994, she worked at the

Ministry of Industry A Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry or variations is a ministry that is concerned with a nation's trade, industry and commerce. Notable examples are: List *Algeria: Ministry of Industry and ...

, and in 1998 became director of the Swedish Museum of National Antiquities. Cederqvist had long wanted to become directly involved with history and was first excited with this job, but later became frustrated with the lack of funds and moved to the Ministry of Finance, where between 1999 and 2002 she acted as

director-general A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'' ) or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a government ...

of the

Swedish Fortifications Agency The Swedish Fortifications Agency ( sv, Fortifikationsverket, FortV) is a Swedish government agency under the Ministry of Finance , tasked with managing government-owned defense-related buildings and land. The agency functions as the landlord fo ...

and then worked as a tax analyst. Cederqvist died after suffering from motor neurone disease on 15 January 2023, at the age of 77.

References

External links

*
November 1960 Jane Cederqvist interview at SVT's open archive)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cederqvist, Jane 1945 births 2023 deaths Olympic swimmers for Sweden Olympic silver medalists for Sweden Swimmers at the 1960 Summer Olympics Swimmers from Stockholm World record setters in swimming Swedish female freestyle swimmers SK Neptun swimmers Medalists at the 1960 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists in swimming Deaths from motor neuron disease

Biography

See also

References

External links