Bernhoff Hansen
Bern Hoff Otelius Hansen ( born August 17, 1877 in Rognan, Norway, † December 22, 1950 in New York City, New York, United States) was a Norwegian wrestler wrestling of the Olympic Summer Games 1904 in St. Louis, Missouri, the United States represented and in the heavyweight class ( 158 lb / 71.67 kg ) won the gold medal ahead of Frank Kugler (Silver) and Fred hot Bold (bronze).
It was only in 2012 Norwegian historian came out that Hansen was not until 1925, listed as alien, so as permanently established in the United States foreigners, which led to discussions about whether he was ever awarded U.S. citizenship. Therefore, these same historians opined the gold medal, which was scored for the United States, later to be considered for Norway.
Life and career
Hansen was born in 1877 in the village Rognan, the center of the municipality Saltdal in Nordland. In Norway, he was initially very successful as a wrestler, but took one and a half years before the Summer Olympics in 1904 the decision to settle in the United States. Immediately after his arrival in New York City, he joined the Norwegier gymnastics club in the then second largest borough of Brooklyn where he represented at the Olympic Games in 1904. At the Olympic Games in the then just emerging metropolitan St. Louis, Hansen won out against the competition. In the heavyweight competition could the Norwegian, who decided to compete for the U.S., to claim first place in the first round against Fred Hot Bold and win the fight after just 23 seconds. In the semi-final battle against William Hennessy, who took in these Olympics even in three different weight classes, Hansen went to 5:07 minutes also emerged as the winner. Even the final battle against the coming of the German Reich Frank Kugler he could decide for himself and so to accept the gold medal after exactly 2:00 minutes.
His championship title he won in 1904 with a " AAU tournament," he was able to defend one year later a second time. During his playing days, he fought against, inter alia other international greats such as Władysław " Władek " Zbyszko, the brother of world champion professional wrestler in the Greco-Roman and free style, Stanislaus Zbyszko. Other opponents were, among others, Aleksander Aberg, Waldemar Kassfeldt, Cyclone Ress, Jack Gedrow, Mike Matalich or Taro Miyake. In a report from 1918, the New York Times describes the 1.73 -meter Bern Hoff Hansen as a "light - heavyweight - wrestler ". After Hansen was successful for several decades as a wrestler, he was at an advanced age in his new home of New York City down and died there on December 22, 1950 of natural causes. The municipality Saltdal honored Hansen in 2004, 100 years after the success at the Olympic Games, with a monument in his hometown Rognan.
According to other reports, he will be traveling back home immediately after the Olympic Games, where he is said to have married his childhood sweetheart from Saltdal, Olianna Petrine Jørgine Ranes (1888-1975). With his family he is supposed to be then come back to the United States around the time of the First World War, where he continued his career as a wrestler in addition to have been active as a steel worker.