Vivi-Anne Hultén (25 August 1911 – 15 January 2003) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

figure skater who competed in ladies' singles. She was the 1936 Olympic bronze medalist, a four-time World medalist, a two-time European bronze medalist, and a ten-time Swedish national champion.

Personal life

Vivi-Anne Hultén was born in Antwerp,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. She was married twice, first to the American steel importer Nils Tholand. In 1942, she married Gene Theslof, a Finnish figure skater and gymnast, with whom she had a son by the same name. The Teslofs trained their son Gene Theslof III to become a leading adagio skater who toured with

Holiday on Ice Holiday on Ice is an ice show currently owned by Medusa Music Group GmbH, a subsidiary of CTS EVENTIM, Europe's largest ticket distributor, with its headquarters in Bremen, Germany. History Holiday on Ice originated in the United States in Decem ...

in the USA during the 1960s. He later became a business executive in California. Hultén died at 91 of heart failure in Corona del Mar, California, surviving her husband by 20 years. She was the grandmother of American professional soccer coach Nick Theslof.

Career

Hultén was coached by a brother of

Gillis Grafström Gillis Emanuel Grafström (7 June 1893 – 14 April 1938) was a Swedish figure skater. He was born in Stockholm, Sweden. He won three successive Olympic gold medals in Men's Figure Skating (1920, 1924, 1928) as well as an Olympic silver medal in ...

. She finished fifth 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 ...

. In 1933, she finished second to

Sonja Henie Sonja Henie (8 April 1912 – 12 October 1969) was a Norwegian figure skater and film star. She was a three-time Olympic champion ( 1928, 1932, 1936) in women's singles, a ten-time World champion (1927–1936) and a six-time European champi ...

at the 1933 World Championships held in Stockholm. Hultén won the bronze medal at 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 ...

in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. When told to do a

Nazi salute The Nazi salute, also known as the Hitler salute (german: link=no, Hitlergruß, , Hitler greeting, ; also called by the Nazi Party , 'German greeting', ), or the ''Sieg Heil'' salute, is a gesture that was used as a greeting in Nazi Germany. Th ...

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

, she declined and said "I am from Sweden. I don't do things like that."Article
by Lennart K Persson in '' Svenskt kvinnobiografiskt lexikon'' Swedish newspapers have named her the country's all-time female athlete. A lake in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

has a statue of her performing a spiral. After turning professional, Hultén toured with the

Ice Follies The Ice Follies, formerly known as the Shipstads & Johnson Ice Follies, is a touring ice show featuring elaborate production numbers, similar in concept to Ice Capades. It was founded in 1936 by Eddie and Roy Shipstad, and Oscar Johnson. In later ...

Ice Cycles ''Ice Cycles'' is the second album by the progressive metal group Platypus, released in 2000. Track listing # Oh God – 4:16 # Better Left Unsaid – 5:24 # The Tower – 3:30 # Cry – 6:15 # I Need You – 4:17 # 25 (instrumental) – 5 ...

, and

Ice Capades The Ice Capades were traveling entertainment shows featuring theatrical ice skating performances. Shows often featured former Olympic and US National Champion figure skaters who had retired from formal competition. Started in 1940, the Ice Cap ...

. She formed an adagio

pair Pair or PAIR or Pairing may refer to: Government and politics * Pair (parliamentary convention), matching of members unable to attend, so as not to change the voting margin * ''Pair'', a member of the Prussian House of Lords * ''Pair'', the Frenc ...

with Theslof, her future husband, who had skated with Henie for seven years, and the pair toured the United States and Europe. In the mid 1960s, she settled in the United States and opened a large skating school in St. Paul, Minnesota with Theslof. Hultén was hired as a skating coach by

Herb Brooks Herbert Paul Brooks Jr. (August 5, 1937 – August 11, 2003) was an American ice hockey player and coach. His most notable achievement came in 1980 as head coach of the gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic team at Lake Placid. At the Games, Brooks' ...

for his Minnesota North Stars hockey team. She performed for the

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

and

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

of Sweden and also skated in ten ice shows with the Ice Capades in Minneapolis, Minnesota up until the age of 80. She actively taught on the ice until age 86.

Personal life

Career

Results

References

Further reading