Hjalmar Andersen biography
Hjalmar Andersen, in full Hjalmar Johan Andersen, byname Hjallis, (born March 12, 1923, Rødøy, Norway—died March 27, 2013, Oslo), Norwegian pace skater who dominated the longer speed-skating distances within the early Fifties, successful three gold medals on the 1952 Olympic Games in Oslo and setting a number of world information.
Andersen, who was thought of probably the most highly effective pace skaters of all time, started skating as a boy, however the World War II Nazi occupation of Norway delayed his entry into worldwide competitors. In the early Fifties he set world information within the 5,000 metres (8 min 7.3 sec [January 1951]) and the ten,000 metres (16 min 32.6 sec [February 1952]); the latter file stood for eight years. As a three-time world and European champion (1950–52), he arrived on the 1952 Winter Olympics as a preemptive favorite within the longer distances, however he captured a shock victory within the 1,500-metre occasion. In the 5,000-metre ultimate he set an Olympic file (8 min 10.6 sec) and received by 11 seconds, the biggest margin of victory within the historical past of the occasion. He capped off his Olympic efficiency with probably the most decisive victory within the males’s 10,000-metre occasion in Olympic historical past, crossing the road in an Olympic-record time of 16 min 45.8 sec, virtually 25 seconds forward of the second-place finisher. Andersen’s three gold medals in a single Olympics matched a file for males’s pace skating that lasted till the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid, New York, the place American Eric Heiden earned 5.
Andersen formally retired from competitors after the Oslo Olympics, however he returned to the ice in 1954 to win his fourth Norwegian title in 5 years and a silver medal on the European championships. He certified for the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, however did not medal. The Norwegian authorities paid tribute to Andersen by erecting a statue of him within the Vikingskipet, the speed-skating venue for the 1994 Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway. At the 1994 Games countryman Johann Olav Koss duplicated Andersen’s 1952 feat by successful gold medals within the 10,000-, 5,000-, and 1,500-metre occasions.