Sweden's first gold medal at the 1948 London Olympic Games
On July 29, 1948, the Olympic Games were opened in London by King George VI. An Olympiad marked by the difficult economic climate of the post-war period. 59 nations and 4,104 athletes participated. Germany and Japan were not welcome to participate and the then Soviet Union withdrew.
The big event of the Olympic Games was the victory and gold medal of the Swedish football team. In the final, Sweden won 3-1 against Yugoslavia after goals by Gunnar Nordahl and Gunnar Gren.
The first Swedish Olympic gold medal in the London Olympics, however, went to Gustaf Nordahl who won the art competitions with the sculpture “Homage to Ling”. Competitions were held in various art disciplines: architecture, literature, music, painting and sculpture and were held at the Victoria and Albert Museum between July 15 and August 14. However, London 1948 would be the last time art would be included in the Olympic Games since they were introduced in 1912.
Gustaf Nordahl was 45 years old at the time and was a trained sculptor at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts and had been working on his Olympic sculpture entry for three years. The sculpture “Tribute to Ling” depicted a gymnastics couple. He an elite gymnast and she a Sofia girl. ( The Sofia Girls is a still existing gymnastics association founded in 1936 by gymnastics teacher Maja Carlquist. ) ( Pehr Henrik Ling founded and was the first director of the Gymnastics Central Institute (GCI), today the Swedish Academy of Gymnastics and Sports (GIH), and is also called the father of Swedish gymnastics. )
Photographer Kristoffersson was not slow to notice Nordahl and paid a visit to his home in Saltsjöbaden outside Stockholm. The pictures were published in the magazine Se in issue 31 in 1948, which on the cover is called Olympianummer with the text: “The first London medal went to Sweden thanks to the sculptor Gustaf Nordahl and these well-educated young people who were awarded Olympic gold. Se photo KG Kristoffersson.” A typical Se report with more space for the pictures than for the text. His wife Sandra, the eldest daughter with the same name and his youngest one-year-old daughter Lucie are in the pictures. Proof of his talent is the beautiful portrait head he can be seen working on in his studio where a young teenage girl sits as a model.
Gustaf Nordahl was born August 10, 1903 and died November 10, 1992.