Göta Elisabeth Pettersson (18 December 1926 – 9 October 1993) was a Swedish

artistic gymnast Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different types of apparatus. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which assigns the '' Code of Points'' used ...

. She competed at both the

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...

and

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics (, ), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad (, ) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952, were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1952 in Helsinki, Finland. After Japan declared in ...

and won a gold medal in the team portable apparatus event in 1952. She also won the gold team medal and team portable apparatus medal at the

1950 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 12th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were held in Basel, the second largest city of Switzerland, on July 14-16, 1950. 20,000 spectators watched the championships, held for the first time in Switzerland, and the Swiss team was very su ...

, and individually, she was the 1948 Swedish champion.

Biography

Pettersson was born in 1926 in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

to a single mother, as her father died before she was born. She swam as a child and began gymnastics in 1941. In 1946, she became the bronze medalist at the Swedish Championships. In 1948, she won the Swedish championships and was sent to compete at 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 ...

. Because Sweden had developed its own gymnastics style that differed from that used in international competition, they had not sent a team to the Olympics since 1920. The team placed fourth. Pettersson was one of three members of the Olympic team (along with Karin Lindberg and

Ingrid Sandahl Ingrid Sandahl (5 November 1924 – 15 November 2011) was a Swedish artistic gymnast. She competed at both the 1948 and 1952 Olympics and won a gold medal in the team portable apparatus event in 1952. She also won a gold all-around team medal ...

) that then competed at the 1950 World Championships. The Swedish team won gold in the all-around team event as well as in the team portable apparatus event, where they used balls as their apparatus. Her last competition was the

. The Swedish team again placed fourth in the team all-around, but they won gold in the team portable apparatus event ahead of the Soviet Union and Hungary. She married in 1953 and was not involved in competitive sports thereafter. She had two children, worked as a seamstress, and died in 1993.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pettersson, Gota 1926 births 1993 deaths Swedish female artistic gymnasts Gymnasts at the 1948 Summer Olympics Gymnasts at the 1952 Summer Olympics Olympic gymnasts for Sweden Olympic gold medalists for Sweden Olympic medalists in gymnastics Medalists at the 1952 Summer Olympics Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships Gymnasts from Stockholm 20th-century Swedish sportswomen

Biography

References

Further reading

External links