Viktor Reinhold Smeds (18 September 1885 – 22 February 1957) was a Finnish sportsleader and a boxer, who also won an Olympic bronze in gymnastics.

Sport

He was one of the most significant and internationally best-known sports leaders of his generation in Finland. His impact was especially pivotal in boxing. He also developed strength sports and wrestling, and won an Olympic medal in gymnastics.

Olympics

He was the leader of the Finnish Olympic boxing team in

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...

and

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...

. He was a wrestling judge at the

1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War in 1920: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its own ma ...

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hol ...

and 1928 games, and a jury chairman in

and

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The Constitution of New Jersey (later subject to amendment) goes into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British ...

. He was a boxing judge at the

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhanov, J ...

and 1932 games and a jury chairman in

. He oversaw the boxing events at the 1952 games. He sat in the board of the

Finnish Olympic Committee The Finnish Olympic Committee ( fi, Suomen Olympiakomitea ry; sv, Finlands Olympiska Kommitté rf) is the national Olympic committee in Finland for the Olympic Games movement. It is a non-profit organisation that selects teams, and raises funds ...

for about 20 years.

Other sport

He represented Finland in Nordic students' rowing competition twice. His team placed 3rd in 1907, and 1st in 1908. He won the Finnish championship in boxing in light heavyweight in 1923 and heavyweight in 1925. He also played football and tennis.

Sports leader

He founded the club Lovisa Tor. He was the chairman of Helsingin Atleettiklubi in 1920–1924. He founded the boxing club Helsingin Nyrkkeilyseura in 1920 and the Finnish Boxing Federation in 1923. He was the president of the federation until his death, except for one year-long break. He held influential positions in the

International Boxing Association (amateur) The International Boxing Association (IBA), previously known as the Association Internationale de Boxe Amateur (AIBA), is an independent sport organization that sanctions amateur (Olympic-style) boxing matches and awards world and subordinate cha ...

, eventually a vice president. He also wrote some boxing-related guides. He was the president of the

International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

in 1929–1952. He also was the chairman of the wrestling chapter of

Finnish Gymnastics and Sports Federation Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

in 1921–1922.

Career

Smeds completed his matriculation exam in Vaasa Swedish Lycaeum in 1904, and graduated as a filosofian kandidaatti (roughly Master of Arts) from the University of Helsinki in 1907. He moved to Loviisa to teach Russian, gymnastics and physical education in 1909. He was also the local police chief. He was a businessman in various companies first in Saint Petersburg in 1916–1918 and then in Helsinki from 1918. He started his own business in 1940. He was a recruiter for the

Finnish volunteers in the Waffen-SS From 1941 to 1943, 1,408 Finns volunteered for service on the Eastern Front of World War II in the ''Waffen-SS'', in units of the SS Division Wiking. Most of these volunteers served as motorized infantry in the Finnish Volunteer Battalion ...

. He also interrogated

Soviet prisoners of war in Finland Soviet prisoners of war in Finland during World War II were captured in two Soviet-Finnish conflicts of that period: the Winter War and the Continuation War. The Finns took about 5,700 POWs during the Winter War, and due to the short length of th ...

. He left for Sweden in

Operation Stella Polaris Operation Stella Polaris was the cover name for an operation in which Finnish signals intelligence records, equipment and personnel were transported into Sweden in late September 1944 after the end of combat on the Finnish-Soviet front in the Se ...

but soon returned to Finland. He spoke about twelve languages.

Family

His parents were farmer Johan Erik Smeds and Lovisa Båsk. His second wife was Helena Somow, married 1927. His third wife was Greta Carlson, married 1952. He had two children: # Tove Maria, born 1912 #

Björn Bjorn (English, Dutch), Björn (Swedish, Icelandic, Dutch, and German), Bjørn (Danish, Faroese and Norwegian), Beorn (Old English) or, rarely, Bjôrn, Biorn, or Latinized Biornus, Brum (Portuguese), is a Scandinavian male given name, or less oft ...

Sources

* *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smeds, Viktor 1885 births 1957 deaths Finnish male artistic gymnasts Gymnasts at the 1908 Summer Olympics Olympic gymnasts of Finland Olympic bronze medalists for Finland Olympic medalists in gymnastics Medalists at the 1908 Summer Olympics