Finnbjörn Þorvaldsson (25 May 1924 – 9 July 2018) was an Icelandic multi-sport athlete who competed in sprinting in the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and officially branded as London 1948, were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus cau ...

. He also won national championships in both handball and basketball with Íþróttafélag Reykjavíkur.

Early life

Finnbjörn was born in Hnífsdalur,

Westfjords The Westfjords or West Fjords (, ) is a large peninsula in northwestern Iceland and an administrative region, the least populous in the country. It lies on the Denmark Strait, facing the east coast of Greenland. It is connected to the rest of I ...

. At a young age he moved to

Ísafjörður Ísafjörður (pronounced , meaning ''ice fjord'', literally ''fjord of ices'') is a town in the northwest of Iceland. The oldest part of Ísafjörður with the town centre is located on a spit of sand, or ''eyri'', in Skutulsfjörður, a fjord ...

an later to

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

with his parents.

Sports career

Finnbjörn was best known for his achievements in

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

, especially in sprinting where he won several national and nordic championships. He was the flag bearer for Iceland at the

where he competed in sprinting. He also competed in

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

. He won the Icelandic national championship in handball in 1946 with Íþróttafélag Reykjavíkur after scoring the winning goal in ÍR's 20–19 victory against

Haukar Knattspyrnufélagið Haukar (, ) is an Icelandic multi-sport club from Hafnarfjörður with divisions in Association football, Football, Haukar Handball, Handball, Basketball, Haukar RC, Rugby union, Karate, Skiing & Chess. Club history The clu ...

. In

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

, Finnbjörn won the national championship in basketball with ÍR's basketball team.

Death

Finnbjörn died on 9 July 2018 at the age of 94.

References

1924 births 2018 deaths Athletes (track and field) at the 1948 Summer Olympics Finnbjorn Thorvaldsson Finnbjorn Thorvaldsson Finnbjorn Thorvaldsson Finnbjorn Thorvaldsson Finnbjorn Thorvaldsson Finnbjorn Thorvaldsson Finnbjorn Thorvaldsson 20th-century Icelandic sportsmen {{Iceland-athletics-bio-stub