Hjalmar "Hjallis" Johan Andersen (12 March 1923 – 27 March 2013) was a

speed skater Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating. ...

from

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

who won three gold medals at the 1952 Winter Olympic Games of

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

, Norway. He was the only triple gold medalist at the 1952 Winter Olympics, and as such, became the most successful athlete there. Nicknamed ''King Glad'' for his famous cheerful mood, he was one of Norway's most popular sportsmen ever. Four statues of him were raised during his lifetime; in

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; sma, Tråante), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2020, it had a population of 205,332, was the third most populous municipality in Norway, an ...

Hamar Hamar is a town in Hamar Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. Hamar is the administrative centre of Hamar Municipality. It is located in the traditional region of Hedmarken. The town is located on the shores of Mjøsa, Norway's largest lak ...

, Rødøy and outside

Bislett Stadium Bislett Stadium ( no, Bislett stadion) is a sports stadium in Oslo, Norway. Bislett is Norway's most well known sports arena internationally, with 15 speed skating world records and more than 50 track and field world records having been set here ...

in Oslo. He was honored with a funeral at the state’s expense.

Early life

Andersen was born on Rødøy, an island off the coast of

Nordland Nordland (; smj, Nordlánnda, sma, Nordlaante, sme, Nordlánda, en, Northland) is a county in Norway in the Northern Norway region, the least populous of all 11 counties, bordering Troms og Finnmark in the north, Trøndelag in the south, ...

in Norway, where his mother hailed from. His father, who originally was from

Hammerfest Hammerfest (; sme, Hámmerfeasta ) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. Hammerfest is the northernmost town in the world with more than 10,000 inhabitants. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Hamm ...

, was a

boatswain A boatswain ( , ), bo's'n, bos'n, or bosun, also known as a deck boss, or a qualified member of the deck department, is the most senior rate of the deck department and is responsible for the components of a ship's hull. The boatswain supervis ...

. While Andersen was still an toddler, the family moved to

Lademoen Lademoen is a neighborhood in the city of Trondheim in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is situated the borough of Østbyen, about east of Midtbyen, the city centre of Trondheim. Lademoen was incorporated into the city of Trondheim in 1893. The ...

, a working-class neighborhood in

, where sport and friendship was an important part of life.

Per Jorsett Per Jorsett (11 May 1920 – 30 January 2019) was a Norwegian freelance sports reporter, sport historian and sports shooter. He reported for '' Sportsmanden'' from 1945 to 1961, and for the newspapers ''Dagbladet'' and '' Nationen''. He had comm ...

Hjalmar Andersen
Store Norske Leksikon, retrieved 29 March 2013 He began speed skating at the age of 10, and became a member of the sports club

Falken Falken Tire is a brand of passenger car, light truck, and medium truck tires owned by the Japanese company Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI). It was launched in its native country of Japan in 1983, and was introduced to the North American marke ...

. The club was part of the Workers' Sports Federation (AIF), and the first competitions he participated in were small, local competitions organized by the AIF. Other members of the club were

Sverre Farstad Sverre Farstad (8 February 1920 – 27 March 1978) was a Norwegian speed skater representing ''Sportsklubben Falken'', Trondheim, as part of the Falken Trio also including Henry Wahl and Hjalmar Andersen. Farstad won one Olympic gold medal and on ...

and

Henry Wahl Henry Wahl (9 March 1915 – 13 October 1984) was a Norwegian speed skater. He competed in the 10,000 m event at the 1948 Winter Olympics The 1948 Winter Olympics, officially known as the V Olympic Winter Games (german: V. Olympische Winterspi ...

; later Andersen, Farstad and Wahl would be known by the nickname The Falken Trio. After the

German occupation of Norway The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until th ...

in 1940, when Andersen was 17 years old, all organized sports competitions were halted as a result of the sports boycott against the Nazi regime. Like others of his generation, he had to wait until the winter of 1946 to take up his sports career again. Professionally, he began working as a delivery boy in a sports store after having completed the folkeskole at about 14. He later worked as a lorry driver for several years. In 1950, when he was at the height of his speed skating career, he opened his own sports store in Trondheim, which he ran until 1960.

Career

He made his international debut at the 1948 Winter Olympic Games of St. Moritz,

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, winning the qualifying race for 1500 m, but he was still not selected for the Norwegian team for this distance. He was selected for the 10000 m team, but because of the terrible ice conditions he did not finish the race. During the European Championship in Davos he noted a personal best at 2:16.4 at 1,500 m and set a new world record in the 10,000 m with 16:57.4. He placed second overall in the championship. Andersen was the best skater of the world in the period of 1950 to 1952. In each of those three years, he became World Allround Champion, making him one of only five male skaters to have won this title in three consecutive years – the other four being Oscar Mathisen (1912–1914), Ard Schenk (1970–1972), Eric Heiden (1977–1979), and

Sven Kramer Sven Kramer (; born 23 April 1986) is a retired Dutch long track speed skater who has won an all time record nine World Allround Championships as well as a record ten European Allround Championships. He is the Olympic champion of the 5000 mete ...

(2007–2010). In those same years, 1950–1952, he was also European Allround Champion and Norwegian Allround Champion, thus winning the "triple" (World, European, and National Allround Championships) for three consecutive years. In addition, he also set three world records in those three years. A notable event in his career was the European Championship in 1951 at

. Speed skating was immensely popular in Norway at the time and 25,000 people cheered the skaters during the two-day event. King Haakon VII was present at the event.Øystein Andersen
Her er sannheten om tidenes skøytebilde
Dagbladet, 27 March 2013 During the event, Andersen won the three first distances and was a clear favourite to become allround champion before the 10,000 metres. After 11 laps, however, Andersen fell. He tried to continue on, but one of his skates had been damaged and he was taken off the rink. Andersen’s fall was soon linked to a flash used by photographer Johan Brun from

Dagbladet ''Dagbladet'' (lit.: ''The Daily Magazine'') is one of Norway's largest newspapers and is published in the tabloid format. It has 1,400,000 daily readers on mobile, web and paper. Traditionally ''Dagbladet'' is considered the main liberal newsp ...

at the moment of the fall. It was decided to let Andersen run the 10,000 metres for a second time, while a jury was to consider whether the second run should actually count. In the meantime, Brun rushed to Dagbladet to get his film developed. He returned with the photo he had taken when the fall happened. It showed that Andersen had his eyes shut at the time. The jury concluded that the flash had blinded Andersen. The result from his second 10,000 metres run became official and he won both the 10,000 metres and the overall championship. Brun and Andersen had friendly contact later in life. Brun has stated that the electronic flash he had used couldn't possibly have blinded Andersen, and he believes the jury made a mistake due to lack of knowledge of photography equipment. In a speed skating international between Norway and the rest of the world at Hamar on 10 February 1952, Hjalmar Andersen set a world record in the 10,000 meters with the time 16:32.6. It was the first time a speed skater took less than 40 seconds to complete every lap in the 10,000 meters, and it was regarded as an amazing world record. In Norway, the record achieved legendary status, and is often referred to as the best known sports record ever. The record stood for eight years, until Kjell Bäckman broke it. The record created enormous interest in Andersen in the

1952 Winter Olympics The 1952 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VI Olympic Winter Games ( no, De 6. olympiske vinterleker; nn, Dei 6. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Oslo 1952, was a winter multi-sport event held from 14 to 25 February 19 ...

that started in Oslo one week later.Per Opsahl and Ingrid Hvidsten
«Hjallis» var superstjernen som måtte skjermes fra OL-troppen på hjemmebane i 1952
VG, 27 March 2013 On 17 February, Andersen won his first Olympic gold medal in the 5,000 meters with a new Olympic record. The next day, he won gold in the 1,500 meters, and he ended the competition by setting a new Olympic record in winning the 10,000 meters on 19 February. The three days of skating competitions were attended by 75,000 enthusiastic spectators. Andersen quit skating after the 1952 Olympics, but he was talked into giving it a new try in 1954. He became Norwegian champion for the fourth time and won both the 5,000 m and 10000 m at the European Championships in

Davos , neighboring_municipalities= Arosa, Bergün/Bravuogn, Klosters-Serneus, Langwies, S-chanf, Susch , twintowns = } Davos (, ; or ; rm, ; archaic it, Tavate) is an Alps, Alpine resort town and a Municipalities of Switzerland, muni ...

that year, winning silver in the overall standings. He qualified for the 1956 Olympics and earned sixth place on the

10,000 m The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship level events. The ...

. During his career, he set four

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

s. His 10,000 m world record in 1949 (16:57.4) was the first official world record below 17 minutes for the distance. As it was skated outside of Norway, it did not count as a Norwegian national record, of which Andersen set eight during his skating career. Andersen represented ''Sportsklubben Falken'' (Sports Club Falcon) in Trondheim.

Later years

After he ended his skating career, Andersen moved to

Tønsberg Tønsberg , historically Tunsberg, is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, eastern Norway, located around south-southwest of Oslo on the western coast of the Oslofjord near its mouth onto the Skagerrak. The administrative c ...

. In addition to his skating triumphs, Andersen was also a great

cyclist Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...

on a national level, and he was awarded the

Egebergs Ærespris The Egebergs Ærespris ("Honorary Prize of Egeberg") is a prize awarded to Norwegian athletes who excel in more than one sport. The prize was created by Ferdinand Julian Egeberg, and consists of a bronze statuette modelled by sculptor Magnus Vig ...

in 1951 for his achievements in speed skating and cycling. He started a long and joyful career in "the welfare service for merchant shipping", which he worked with until he reached retirement age in 1990. Earning the nickname "Kong Glad" (English: King Happy") and known for his sense of humour, he was a popular speaker.Siri Gedde-Dahl et a
Idrettspresidenten: – Glad han fikk hedersprisen
Adressa.no, 27 March 2013 He also published several books, partly memories from his sports career and partly humoristic stories. He received the King's Medal of Merit in gold in 1998 and The Honor Prize at

Idrettsgallaen Idrettsgallaen ("the Sports Gala") is a show to honor the past year's Norwegian sports and athletes' achievements. It is hosted annually at Hamar Olympic Amphitheatre in Hamar in early January. The event started in 2001. Hamar was selected because ...

together with Knut Johannesen in 2013, just two months before his death.

Personal life

Andersen married his teenage sweetheart, Gerd, and they lived together until she died in 2004. They had three children.

Death and funeral

On 25 March 2013, Andersen suffered a serious fall in his home in

, Norway, was rushed to the hospital and never regained consciousness. He died two days later on 27 March, two weeks after his 90th birthday. His survivors include three children and grandson Fredrik van der Horst, a speedskater who represented Norway at the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy Greene Wayne G ...

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The ...

. The Norwegian government decided that Hjalmar Andersen should be honored with a funeral at the state’s expense. The third athlete to be given this honor since 1998. Prime minister

Jens Stoltenberg Jens Stoltenberg (born 16 March 1959) is a Norwegian politician who has been serving as the 13th secretary general of NATO since 2014. A member of the Norwegian Labour Party, he previously served as the 34th prime minister of Norway from 2000 to ...

stated that “Hjalmar Andersen became a sport legend at a time when speed skating was part of the Norwegian identity, and got involved in the work for sailors at time when ship transport was interwoven with the nation’s soul. In this way, 'Hjallis' contributed to forming post-war Norway in an important way and won a huge place in the hearts of several generations of Norwegians.” The funeral ceremony in

Tønsberg Cathedral Tønsberg Cathedral ( no, Tønsberg Domkirke) is a Lutheran church located in Tønsberg, Norway. It is the episcopal seat of the Diocese of Tunsberg within the Church of Norway. Originally a parish church, it was elevated to cathedral status in 19 ...

on 4 April 2013 was attended by King Harald V and by Norway's Prime minister

who gave a speech.Lillian Holden et al
Statsministeren: – Alle som er glade i Norge er glade i «Hjallis»
VG, 4 April 2013

Medals and Records

An overview of medals won by Andersen at important championships he participated in, listing the years in which he won each: Over the course of his career, Andersen skated four

world records A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book '' Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizat ...

: Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com Norwegian records Note that in the days Hjalmar skated a Norwegian record could only be skated in Norway itself, so his Davos world record could not become a Norwegian record as well. Personal records To put these personal records in perspective, the ''WR'' column lists the official world records on the dates that Andersen skated his personal records.

Ranking as speed skater

Andersen had a final Adelskalender score of 187.446 points. He held first place on the Adelskalender for 708 days between 1952 and 1954.

Awards

Morgenbladet ''Morgenbladet'' is a Norwegian weekly, newspaper, covering politics, culture and science. History ''Morgenbladet'' was founded in 1819 by the book printer Niels Wulfsberg. The paper is the country's first daily newspaper; however, Adresseavi ...

s gold medal, 1949 *

, 1951 * Fearnleys olympiske ærespris, 1952 *

Norwegian Sportsperson of the Year Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

, 1952 * Olavstatuetten (awarded by

Adresseavisen ''Adresseavisen'' (; commonly known as ''Adressa'') is a regional newspaper published daily, except Sundays, in Trondheim, Norway. The paper has been in circulation since 1767 and is one of the oldest newspapers after Norske Intelligenz-Seddel ...

), 1976 * King's Medal of Merit in gold, 1998 * The Honor Prize at

, 2013

Books

*Hjalmar Andersen: ''Harde løp'' (1951). Self-published. *Hjalmar Andersen:''Siste runde'' (1952). Norsk idrettsforlag. *Hjalmar Andersen and Sverre E. Mortensen: ''Hva idretten ga meg'' (1983).

Gyldendal Norsk Forlag Gyldendal Norsk Forlag AS, commonly referred to as Gyldendal N.F. and in Norway often only as Gyldendal, is one of the largest Norwegian publishing houses. It was founded in 1925 after buying rights to publications from the Danish publishing ...

. *Hjalmar Andersen and Sverre E. Mortensen: ''Medaljens bakside'' (1985). Gyldendal Norsk Forlag. *Hjalmar Andersen: ''Den gode, gamle, gale istida'' (1989).

Det Norske Samlaget Det Norske Samlaget is a Norwegian publishing house founded on 24 March 1868 with the aim to promote and publish books in Landsmål, now known as Nynorsk. ''Det Norske Samlaget'' is now divided into two institutions: a literature organization, '' ...

. *Hjalmar Andersen and Knut-Anders Løken: ''Gull og glis'' (1990) Det Norske Samlaget.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Eng, Trond. ''All Time International Championships, Complete results 1889 – 2002''. Askim, Norway: WSSSA Skøytenytt, 2002. * Eng, Trond and Teigen, Magne. ''Norske Mesterskap på Skøyter, 1894 – 2005''. Askim/Veggli, Norway: WSSSA-Norge, 2005. * Eng, Trond; Gjerde, Arild; Teigen, Magne and Petersen, Preben Gorud. ''Norsk Skøytestatistikk Gjennom Tidene 1999''. Askim/Skedsmokorset/Veggli, Norway: WSSSA-Norge, 1999. * Teigen, Magne. ''Komplette Resultater Norske Mesterskap på Skøyter, 1887 – 1989''. Veggli, Norway: WSSSA-Norge, 1989.

External links

* *
Hjalmar Andersen is dead NRK (Norwegian)

Hjalmar Andersen at SpeedSkatingStats.com

Hjalmar Anderson
''Deutsche Eisschnelllauf Gemeinschaft e. V.'' (German Skating Association). * *
National Championships results
''Norges Skøyteforbund'' (Norwegian Skating Association).
Development of Norwegian records 1880–2007
''Norges Skøyteforbund'' (Norwegian Skating Association). {{DEFAULTSORT:Andersen, Hjalmar 1923 births 2013 deaths Norwegian male speed skaters Olympic speed skaters of Norway Speed skaters at the 1948 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 1952 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 1956 Winter Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Norway World record setters in speed skating Norwegian humorists Olympic medalists in speed skating Recipients of the King's Medal of Merit in gold Accidental deaths from falls Accidental deaths in Norway Medalists at the 1952 Winter Olympics World Allround Speed Skating Championships medalists Sportspeople from Tønsberg