Johan Georg Harmenberg (born 8 September 1954 in
Stockholm, Sweden) is a Swedish Olympic and world champion
epee fencer.
Early and personal life
Harmenberg was born in
Stockholm, Sweden. He completed two years of study at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
(MIT) in 1975, leaving his course early (he would have graduated in 1977) before returning to Sweden, having been drafted by the
Swedish army.
[''Mastering 'Metrics: The Path from Cause to Effect'' - Joshua D. Angrist, Jörn-Steffen Pischke]
/ref> He became a biotech
Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...
executive and researcher. He now holds an MD and a PhD in virology
Virology is the scientific study of biological viruses. It is a subfield of microbiology that focuses on their detection, structure, classification and evolution, their methods of infection and exploitation of host cells for reproduction, th ...
from Karolinska Institute
The Karolinska Institute (KI; sv, Karolinska Institutet; sometimes known as the (Royal) Caroline Institute in English) is a research-led Medical school, medical university in Solna Municipality, Solna within the Stockholm urban area of Sweden. ...
, Stockholm, Sweden, and has been the Chief Medical Officer of Oncopeptides AB since 2012.[">"Johan Harmenberg M.D., Ph.D.: Executive Profile & Biography" - Bloomberg]
/ref> In September 2019, Harmenberg joined Beactica Therapeutics, a Swedish drug discovery company, as a clinical advisor.
His son Karl Harmenberg fenced epee for Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
, and as a junior in 2008-09 won the gold medal at the NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
Regionals and was selected to All-Ivy League
The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight school ...
second team.
Fencing career
He has won eight total epee gold medals in both individual and team competitions at Olympic
Olympic or Olympics may refer to
Sports
Competitions
* Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896
** Summer Olympic Games
** Winter Olympic Games
* Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...
, World Championships
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
, and World Cup
A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...
tournaments.
World Championships
He won the World Championship titles in Individual Épée and Team Épée events at the 1977 competitions in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
.
He also won a bronze medal in Team Épée at the 1979 World Championships in Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
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, postal ...
.
World Cups
Harmenberg captured three Individual Épée World Cup Championships within four years: 1977 ( Bern), 1979 ( Heidenheim), and 1980 (Heidenheim). He also won team titles at the 1977 and 1980 World Cups.
Olympics
At the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games, he won a gold medal in the Individual Épée. In three of the final matches he won by only one touch. He is the only Swede to have won an individual gold medal in fencing. Harmenberg was a member of the Swedish épée team as well; the team placed 5th in the team épée competition.
Scholarship
He is the author of over 100 publications in scientific literature. Harmenberg co-authored scientific papers entitled "Fencing: Biomedical and Psychological Factors," "Comparison of different tests of fencing performance" (1991), and "Physiological and morphological characteristics of world class fencers" (1990).
Harmenberg has since had a distinguished career in medical pharmacology, publishing a variety of papers relating to viral immunology
Immunology is a branch of medicineImmunology for Medical Students, Roderick Nairn, Matthew Helbert, Mosby, 2007 and biology that covers the medical study of immune systems in humans, animals, plants and sapient species. In such we can see the ...
. After stints as VP of pharmaceutical development at Medivir, Chief Medical officer at Algeta ASA, is currently (2014) Medical Director and VP of clinical development at Axelar AB in Stockholm, Sweden.
Johan co-authored ''Épée 2.0: The Birth of the New Fencing Paradigm'', and ''Épée 2.5: The New Paradigm Revised and Augmented''.[''Epee 2.5: The New Paradigm Revised and Augmented, SKA SwordPlay Books, October 2014, ''] In these books, he describes the new fencing paradigm that he developed with Maestro Eric Sollee
Eric Tennyson Sollee (September 8, 1926 – June 30, 2008) was an American fencer and fencing coach. He fenced at Harvard University, where he earned National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) All-America honors. He coached at the Massac ...
, from MIT, which resulted in his victories and a transformation in how Épée is fenced at the higher levels of competition.
References
External links
*
*
"Johan Harmenberg 50 år"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harmenberg, Johan
1954 births
Living people
Swedish male épée fencers
Olympic fencers of Sweden
Fencers at the 1980 Summer Olympics
Olympic gold medalists for Sweden
Olympic medalists in fencing
Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni
Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics
Karolinska Institute alumni
Sportspeople from Stockholm
20th-century Swedish people