Reykjavík Grapevine - 10.08.2012, Page 30

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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 12 — 2012
Iceland | Olympics
With thanks to ÍSÍ for photographs and the book ‘Íslendingar á Ólympíuleikum’ (“Icelanders
at the Olympics”) by Gísli Halldórsson and Jón M. Ívarsson.
Since the Olympic Games were re-
vived in 1896, Icelandic sportsmen
have faced a lack of funds, lack of
nationhood and general lack of
population. Even so, we have man-
aged four glorious medals: a silver
in triple jump at the Melbourne
Games in 1956, a bronze in judo
at the Los Angeles Games in 1984,
bronze in pole vault at the Sydney
Games in 2000 and a silver in hand-
ball at the 2008 Beijing Games.
And, depending on how seriously
you take nationality politics, a gold
at the 1920 Antwerp Games, in the
guise of an ice hockey team from
Canada.
Icelanders refuse to walk for
Denmark
The early story of Iceland at the Olym-
pics is heavily tied up with indepen-
dence politics of the time. The first
photographs of Icelanders at the 1908
Games are of glíma wrestlers dressed
up as Vikings. This was no fancy dress;
it was an assertion of independence
from the Danish colonisers.
Jóhannes Jósefsson was the first
Icelander to compete at the Olympics in
1908. He was determined for Iceland-
ers to compete as a separate nation. A
friend of a friend, chair of the British
Olympic Association, Sir William Hen-
ry Desborough, allowed them to walk
in the opening ceremony and showcase
glíma as an Icelandic sport.
Denmark’s coach, Fritz Hansen,
had other ideas about Iceland taking
part. As Jóhannes recounts the opening
ceremony in his biography ‘Jóhannes á
Borg,’ “All of the sudden a white wall
formed in front of us by the gate of the
stadium. There stood the Danish ath-
letes, 50 of them…in the middle stood
their coach, Fritz, a captain from the
army. He said that we would not walk
in as we were, because we were Dan-
ish subjects and nothing more.” Sir
William, however, demanded that the
Danish step aside and allowed Iceland
to walk.
In addition to taking a team to dem-
onstrate glíma wrestling, Jóhannes
competed in Greco-Roman wrestling
(under Denmark) and came in fourth
place. We would have to wait 48 years
for an Icelander to surpass his perfor-
mance.
Refuse/Resist
In 1912, determined to compete as an
independent sporting nation at the
Stockholm Olympics, wrestler Sigurjón
Pétursson had set up Íþróttasamband
Íslands (ÍSÍ), the Sports Association of
Iceland (and now the National Olym-
pics Association). Iceland was still a
Danish colony, however, and it took a
lot of convincing.
Fritz, who was now head of the Dan-
ish Olympic Association, was not about
to let potential medallist Sigurjón slip
through his fingers too easily. The
minister of the interior finally agreed
to sign a letter declaring that Iceland be
allowed to compete as a special sport-
ing nation. The signature was in pen-
cil, however, and the Swedish Olympic
Association refused to accept it. This
was soon corrected with a telegram and
Iceland appeared in the programme
below Denmark. A sign was made for
the opening ceremony and Icelandic
competitors Sigurjón (Greco-Roman
wrestling) and Jón Halldórsson (track
and field) were to appear as ‘Iceland’
rather than ‘Denmark (Iceland)’ when
they competed.
On the morning of the opening
ceremony, however, Fritz sent a let-
ter demanding that Iceland walk with
the Danish team rather than behind it,
holding its own sign. The sign post for
‘Iceland’ was the only one left lying on
the ground of the stadium as the Icelan-
dic team refused to walk at the opening
ceremony. Although they went on to
compete, the Swedes went back on their
word with ‘Denmark (Iceland)’ behind
their names for two days in a row.
While this insult to
Four Medals In 104 Years A history of Iceland at the
Olympics
Words by Álfrún Gísladóttir.
Continues over
“
Icelanders are special be-
cause we ride polar bears
and use them to pull our
wagons” „