Bernhoff Otelius Hansen (August 17, 1877 – December 22, 1950) was a

Norwegian-American Norwegian Americans () are Americans with ancestral roots in Norway. Norwegian immigrants went to the United States primarily in the latter half of the 19th century and the first few decades of the 20th century. There are more than 4.5 milli ...

wrestler Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves diffe ...

who competed in the

1904 Summer Olympics The 1904 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the III Olympiad and also known as St. Louis 1904) were an international multi-sport event held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from 1 July to 23 November 1904. Many events were conducted ...

for the

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. He was born in Rognan in Saltdal Municipality in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. Originally, he was a Norwegian wrestler in

Nordland Nordland (; , , , ) is one of the three northernmost Counties of Norway, counties in Norway in the Northern Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Trøndelag in the south, Norrbotten County in Sweden to the east, Västerbotten County to t ...

, but one and a half years before the 1904 Olympic Games, he left Norway for the United States. He was affiliated with the

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-based Norwegian Turnverein gymnastic society. Hansen was sponsored by the Norwegian Turnverein at the Olympics in 1904. Hansen won three matches at the 1904 Olympics and the gold medal in the freestyle heavyweight category, wrestling on the United States team. His first name was spelled "Bernhoff" by FILA and in an article by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' from January 16, 1918. By the time of the article, he was referred to as a "Norwegian light-heavyweight wrestler". Hansen died in

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at the age of 73. In 2012, Norwegian historians found documentation showing that Hansen was registered as an "alien" (foreigner) as late as 1925 and questioning whether he ever received American citizenship. The historians thus petitioned to have Hansen's gold registered as Norwegian.

References

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* * 1877 births 1950 deaths People from Saltdal Norwegian emigrants to the United States Wrestlers at the 1904 Summer Olympics American male sport wrestlers Olympic gold medalists for the United States in wrestling Medalists at the 1904 Summer Olympics 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-wrestling-bio-stub