Emil Edvin Wide (22 February 1896 – 19 June 1996) was a Swedish middle-distance and long-distance runner.

Biography

Born in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

as Emil Edvin Hermansson, Wide moved to Sweden in 1918. He competed for Sweden at the

1920 Summer Olympics The 1920 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1920; nl, Olympische Zomerspelen van 1920; german: Olympische Sommerspiele 1920), officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la VIIe olympiade; nl, Spelen van ...

in the 3000 metre team event, winning a bronze medal, together with Eric Backman and Sven Lundgren. At the 1924 Olympics he won a silver medal in the 10,000 m behind Ville Ritola of

. He also finished third in the 5,000 m, behind Ville Ritola and

Paavo Nurmi Paavo Johannes Nurmi (; 13 June 1897 – 2 October 1973) was a Finnish middle-distance and long-distance runner. He was called the "Flying Finn" or the "Phantom Finn", as he dominated distance running in the 1920s. Nurmi set 22 official worl ...

. 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 fro ...

the 5,000 metre medals went to the same people as in 1924, only the Finns swapped medals, leaving Edvin with his third Olympic bronze medal. He then finished behind the same two yet again for the third time in Olympic competition to win the bronze medal in the 10,000 metres. Nationally Wide won 12 Swedish titles: five in the cross country (1922–26), four in the 1,500 m and three in the 5,000 m, and held Swedish records over 1,500 m, 5,000 m and 10,000 m. He also held world records in non-Olympic 4 × 1500 m, 2000 m and 3000 m events, and won the United States two-mile indoor championships in 1929. Wide lived most of hist life near

Enköping Enköping is a locality and the seat of Enköping Municipality, Uppsala County, Sweden with 30,000 inhabitants in 2018. Geography Enköping is situated near Lake Mälaren, about 78 km west of Stockholm. A comparably large number of S ...

, where he worked as a school teacher and then headmaster. In 1926 he was awarded the

Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal The Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal ( sv, Svenska Dagbladets guldmedalj, but usually simply called ''Bragdguldet'', "The Feat Gold") is an annual award "for the most significant Swedish sports achievement of the year". It has been awarded by a jury l ...

. He retired from competitions in 1930. Wide died at the age of 100. He was survived by wife Axelina (age 99) and two sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wide, Edvin 1896 births 1996 deaths People from Kimitoön Athletes (track and field) at the 1920 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1924 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1928 Summer Olympics Swedish male long-distance runners Olympic athletes of Sweden Olympic bronze medalists for Sweden Olympic silver medalists for Sweden Swedish centenarians World record setters in athletics (track and field) Medalists at the 1928 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1924 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1920 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic cross country runners Finnish emigrants to Sweden Men centenarians