Karl Schäfer (17 May 1909 – 23 April 1976) was an Austrian

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

and swimmer. In figure skating, he became a two-time Olympic champion at the

1932 Winter Olympics The 1932 Winter Olympics, officially known as the III Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Lake Placid 1932, were a winter multi-sport event in the United States, held in Lake Placid, New York, United States. The games opened on February ...

and the

1936 Winter Olympics The 1936 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IV Olympic Winter Games (german: IV. Olympische Winterspiele) and commonly known as Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936 ( bar, Garmasch-Partakurch 1936), were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 16 ...

. He was also a seven-time

World champion 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, ...

(1930–1936) and eight-time European champion (1929–1936). As a swimmer, he competed at the

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics ( nl, Olympische Zomerspelen 1928), officially known as the Games of the IX Olympiad ( nl, Spelen van de IXe Olympiade) and commonly known as Amsterdam 1928, was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from ...

in the 200 metre breaststroke.

Early life and skating career

Karl Schäfer was born not far from the artificial ice rink of Eduard Engelmann Jr. in Vienna-

Hernals Hernals (; Viennese German: Hernois) is the 17th district of Vienna, Austria (german: 17. Bezirk, Hernals). Hernals is in northwest Vienna.Statistik Austria, 2007, webpagestatistik.at-23450. Wien.gv.at webpage (see below: References). It was anne ...

. Figure skating coach Rudolf Kutzer first recognized Schäfer's talent when he was 11 years old. Schäfer won ten consecutive medals at the

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

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

, including seven and eight consecutive gold medals respectively, an all-time high for consecutive titles in both competitions (Sweden's

Ulrich Salchow Karl Emil Julius Ulrich Salchow (7 August 1877 – 19 April 1949) was a Danish-born Swedish figure skater, who dominated the sport in the first decade of the 20th century. Salchow won the World Figure Skating Championships ten times, from ...

holds the record for all-time non-consecutive titles, ten World and nine European titles). He competed at the

1928 Winter Olympics The 1928 Winter Olympics, officially known as the II Olympic Winter Games (french: IIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver; german: II. Olympische Winterspiele; it, II Giochi olimpici invernali; rm, II Gieus olimpics d'enviern) and commonly known as St. M ...

and placed 4th. He won back-to-back Olympic titles in men's singles at the

and the

. Schäfer retired from competitive skating in 1936. He moved for a couple of years to the United States, where he worked as a coach. In 1938, he opened a sport store in Vienna. In 1940, he and Herta Wächter (also a figure skating coach) founded the "Karl-Schäfer-Eisrevue" (Karl Schäfer Ice Revue). In 1943, Schäfer became an actor and was the star of the movie ''

The White Dream ''The White Dream'' (German: ''Der weiße Traum'') is a 1943 musical comedy film directed by Géza von Cziffra and starring Olly Holzmann, Elfriede Datzig and Wolf Albach-Retty. The film was made by Wien-Film, a Vienna-based company set up after ...

'', which was produced on Engelmann's ice rink in Vienna-Hernals. After World War II, Schäfer participated in rebuilding the Engelmann's ice rink, and from 1946 on he coached young skaters there. He moved again to the U.S. in 1956 and worked there as a figure skating coach until 1962. In 1962, he returned as a coach to Vienna-Hernals and lived and worked there until he died. The

Karl Schäfer Memorial The Karl Schäfer Memorial (other titles: Asko Cup (1987), Vienna Cup (1994), or Vienna Trophy) was a senior-level international figure skating competition held in Vienna, Austria. Medals were awarded in four disciplines: men's singles, ladies' ...

was a figure skating competition named after him that was held in Vienna from 1974 to 2008.

Swimming career

Schäfer was the Austrian

breaststroke Breaststroke is a swimming style in which the swimmer is on their chest and the torso does not rotate. It is the most popular recreational style due to the swimmer's head being out of the water a large portion of the time, and that it can be s ...

champion several times. He competed in the

and was eliminated in the semi-finals of the 200 metre breaststroke event.

Personal life

Schäfer played the violin very well. He married Christine Engelmann, the youngest daughter of Eduard Engelmann Jr. He was the brother-in-law of

Helene Engelmann Helene Engelmann (later Jaroschka, 9 February 1898 – 1 August 1985) was an Austrian pair skater. With Alfred Berger, she became the 1924 Olympic champion and a two-time world champion. She also won a world title with Karl Mejstrik. Life and ...

Results

Figure skating

References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Schaefer, Karl 1909 births 1976 deaths Figure skaters from Vienna Austrian male single skaters Austrian male breaststroke swimmers Olympic figure skaters of Austria Olympic swimmers of Austria Swimmers at the 1928 Summer Olympics Figure skaters at the 1928 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 1932 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 1936 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Austria People from Hernals Olympic medalists in figure skating World Figure Skating Championships medalists European Figure Skating Championships medalists Medalists at the 1932 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1936 Winter Olympics