Gillis Grafström

Gillis Emanuel Grafström (7 June 1893 – 14 April 1938) was a Swedish figure skater. He was born in Stockholm, Sweden.[1] He won three successive Olympic gold medals in Men's Figure Skating (1920, 1924, 1928) as well as an Olympic silver medal in the same event in 1932, and three World Championships (1922, 1924, 1929).[2] He and Eddie Eagan are the only athletes to have won a gold medal at both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games. Grafström has the further distinction of being the only person to have won an individual gold medal in both the Summer (1920) and Winter Olympics (1924, 1928), although Eagan remains the only one to have managed the feat in different disciplines. Grafstrom is one of the few athletes who have competed in both the Summer and Winter Olympic games.[3] He is one of the oldest figure skating Olympic champions.

Gillis Grafström
Gillis Grafström in 1924
Full nameGillis Emanuel Grafström
Born(1893-06-07)7 June 1893
Stockholm, Sweden
Died14 April 1938(1938-04-14) (aged 44)
Potsdam, Germany
Medal record
Men's Figure skating
Representing  Sweden
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1920 Antwerp Men's singles
Gold medal – first place 1924 Chamonix Men's singles
Gold medal – first place 1928 St. Moritz Men's singles
Silver medal – second place 1932 Lake Placid Men's singles
World Championships
Gold medal – first place1922 StockholmMen's singles
Gold medal – first place1924 StockholmMen's singles
Gold medal – first place1929 LondonMen's singles

Biography

In 1914, Grafström competed at the last World Championships before the first world war.[4] After the war, Grafström won the Olympic gold medal three successive times (1920, 1924 and 1928) and the silver medal at the 1932 Winter Olympics.[5] He remains the only male figure skater to have won three Olympic gold medals (Sonja Henie and Irina Rodnina are other three-time Olympic Champions), and with his silver medal in 1932, is the most successful figure skater in Olympic history. He competed in and won three World Championships in 1922, 1924, 1929, competing only intermittently between editions of Olympic Games.

At his first Olympics in Antwerp one of his skates broke and he had to go to town to buy a new pair. Unfortunately only curly-toed skates were available.[6] Despite this, he was still able to win. As of the 2022 Olympics, he remains the only male singles skater to win three individual gold medals in figure skating.

At his last Olympics in 1932 in Lake Placid, he collided with a photographer on the ice and still managed to place second.[1] He later coached Norwegian figure skater Sonja Henie.[7]

Grafström was one of the best skaters ever in compulsory figures.[8] He also invented the Grafström-pirouette (on the back outside edge of the blade) and the flying sit spin. He skated very elegantly and was famous for his interpretation of music.[1]

From 1925 to his death he lived in Potsdam, Germany. He trained on the Bornstedter See (Bornstedt Lake) when it was frozen or in Berlin on the artificial ice rink at the Volkspark Friedrichshain. Grafström studied architecture at the Technical University of Berlin (Technische Hochschule Berlin) and worked later as an architect. He collected graphics, paintings and sculptures about skating. This collection was continued by his wife Cecilie Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1898–1995). Today this collection belongs to the World Figure Skating Museum in Colorado Springs in the United States.[4] Grafström was also a writer and an etcher.[6]

Grafström died in 1938 in Potsdam, Germany, at the age of 44, of blood poisoning.[1]

Today there is a street in Potsdam named after him. In 1976 he was admitted to the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame.[9] Additionally, Grafström won the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal in 1929 (shared with Sven Utterström).

Results
Event 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932
Summer Olympics1st
Winter Olympics1st1st2nd
World Championships7th1st1st1st
Nordic Championships1st
Swedish Championships2nd1st1st1st

See also

References
  1. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Gillis Grafström". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
  2. "Gillis Grafström". Olympedia. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  3. Gall, Jonnie (18 December 2013). "Who's competed in the summer and winter Olympics?". GrindTV. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  4. Hines, James R. (2006). Figure skating: a history. University of Illinois Press. p. 105. ISBN 978-0-252-07286-4. OCLC 59149288.
  5. "Olympic Winter Games Figure Skating Results" (PDF). International Skating Union. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 May 2013. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
  6. Smith, Beverley (1994). Figure skating: a celebration. McClelland & Stewart. pp. 19–20. ISBN 978-0-7710-2819-9. OCLC 30974224.
  7. "Gillis Grafström". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  8. Künzle-Watson, Karin; DeArmond, Stephen J. (1996). Ice Skating: Steps to Success. Steps to Success. Vol. 1. Human Kinetics. p. 113. ISBN 978-0-87322-669-1. To this day, there are two individuals considered the best at this art: Gillis Grafström of Sweden, who was the men's Olympic champion in 1920, 1923, and 1928, and Beatrix "Trixi" Schuba of Austria, who was the women's Olympic champion in 1972.
  9. "Hall of Fame Members". World Figure Skating Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 9 July 2011. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
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