Bengt Stefan Fernholm (July 2, 1959 in

Norrköping Norrköping (; ) is a city in the province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County, about 160 km southwest of the national capital Stockholm, 40 km east of county seat Linköp ...

Östergötland Östergötland (; English exonym: East Gothland) is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish) in the south of Sweden. It borders Småland, Västergötland, Närke, Södermanland and the Baltic Sea. In older English li ...

– March 11, 1997 in Västerås, Västmanland) was a discus thrower and

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

ter from

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. Fernholm represented his native country at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

in Los Angeles, California. There he ended up in 8th place in the Men's Discus Throw competition. He was affiliated with the ''Bellevue Idrottsklubb'' in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

during his career. Fernholm was believed to be the World's Fastest "Big Man." At 6 ft 1 in, 270 lb, Fernholm ran the 40 yard dash in 4.25 seconds, which would put him amongst the fastest players ever to play Professional Football. Fernholm was a Latter-day Saint. In 2008 Swedish Television broadcast "Diskuskastarens Dröm", a documentary film by the well known Swedish documentary filmmaker Tom Alandh, focusing on Fernholm's life, sudden death at age 37 and its potential links to use of anabolic steroids and painkillers. It is made clear that Fernholm used steroids throughout his career even though he never tested positive and that he abused pain reducing medicine in the later part of his life.''Diskuskastarens Dröm'', 2008 Documentary film by Tom Alandh/Swedish Television

Personal bests

*Shot Put — 19.99 metres (set on 1981-04-04 in Tempe) *Discus Throw — 68.30 metres (set on 1987-07-15 in Västerås)

References

1959 births 1997 deaths Swedish Latter Day Saints Swedish male shot putters Swedish male discus throwers Olympic athletes of Sweden Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Norrköping {{Sweden-athletics-bio-stub