Gillis Grafström
The Television & Movie Wiki: for TV, celebrities, and movies.
| Image:Olympic-rings.png | ||
| Figure Skating | ||
| Gold | 1920 | Mens Singles |
| Gold | 1924 | Mens Singles |
| Gold | 1928 | Mens Singles |
| Silver | 1932 | Mens Singles |
Gillis Grafström (born June 7 1893 in Stockholm, Sweden; † April 14 1938 in Potsdam, Germany) was a Swedish figure skater.
Gillis Grafström won three times between 1920 und 1928 the Olympic gold medal in figure skating and once silver in 1932 just beaten by Karl Schäfer.
At his first Olympics in Antwerp on of his skate broke and he had to go into the town to buy a replacement. Unfortunately only of fashioned skates curly-toed were available. He still won.
At his last Olympics 1932 in Lake Placid he collided with a photographer on the ice and still won the silver medal.
Gillis Grafström was one of the best skaters ever in compulsory figures. He also invented the Grafström-pirouette (on the back outside edge of the blade) and the flying sit spin. He was the first skater executing the jump Axel-Paulsen safely. He skated very elegantly and was famous for his interpretation of music. Gillis Grafström also coached Sonja Henie.
From 1925 to his death Gillis Grafström lived in Potsdam in 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.
Gillis Grafström studied architecture at the Technical University in Berlin (Technische Hochschule Berlin) and worked later as an architect.
He was collecting 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 USA. Gillis Grafström was also writer and etcher.
Gillis Grafström died 1938 in Potsdam with the age of 44 due to blood-poisoning.
Today there is a street in Potsdam named after him. In 1976 he was admitted to the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame.
Contents |
Results
Olympic Games
World championships
European championships
- never participated
See also
Navigation
| Image:Olympic-rings.png | Olympic Champions in Figure Skating – Men's Single | Image:Olympic-rings.png |
|---|---|---|
|
1908: Ulrich Salchow | 1920: Gillis Grafström | 1924: Gillis Grafström | 1928: Gillis Grafström | 1932: Karl Schäfer | 1936: Karl Schäfer | 1948: Richard Button | 1952: Richard Button | 1956: Hayes Alan Jenkins | 1960: David Jenkins | 1964: Manfred Schnelldorfer | 1968: Wolfgang Schwarz | 1972: Ondrej Nepela | 1976: John Curry | 1980: Robin Cousins | 1984: Scott Hamilton | 1988: Brian Boitano | 1992: Viktor Petrenko | 1994: Alexei Urmanov | 1998: Ilia Kulik | 2002: Alexei Yagudin | ||
