Bertil Robert Herman Haase Vidarsson (5 June 1923 – 7 July 2014) was a Swedish
pentathlete
A pentathlon is a contest featuring five events. The name is derived from Greek language, Greek: combining the words ''pente'' (five) and -''athlon'' (competition) (). The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of the Anci ...
who competed at both Winter and Summer Olympics.Bertil Haase Swedish Olympic Committee
Hasse joined the
Swedish Army
The Swedish Army () is the army, land force of the Swedish Armed Forces of the Kingdom of Sweden. Beginning with its service in 1521, the Swedish Army has been active for more than 500 years.
History
Svea Life Guards dates back to the year 1 ...
as a volunteer and attended military school as a
furir
Furir (from French '' fourrier'', a person responsible for the feed) is a Swedish military rank (OR5) reintroduced in 2019, after having been abolished in 2009.
Duties
The ''Furir'' is a Squad Leader at Skill Level B (Intermediate). Promotion fr ...
(private first class). He later retired from the army as a
kapten
''Kapten'' ( in the Swedish Army/Swedish Air Force, Air Force, ''Lieutenant'' in the Swedish Navy, Navy) is a Company (military unit), company grade officer rank. In the army/airforce, it ranks above Löjtnant, lieutenant and below Major (Sweden), ...
Willie Grut
William Oscar Guernsey Grut (17 September 1914 – 20 November 2012) was a Swedish modern pentathlete. He competed at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, where he won the gold medal in modern pentathlon.Gustaf Lindh he competed in the
1948 Winter Olympics
The 1948 Winter Olympics, officially known as the V Olympic Winter Games (; ; ; ) and commonly known as St. Moritz 1948 (; ), were a winter multi-sport event held from 30 January to 8 February 1948 in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The Games were the ...
in the winter pentathlon, which was contested as a demonstration event. As an excellent skier, he won both the downhill and the 10 km cross country disciplines, but lagged behind in
shooting
Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missile ...
horse riding
Equestrianism (from Latin , , , 'horseman', 'horse'), commonly known as horse riding ( Commonwealth English) or horseback riding (American English), includes the disciplines of riding, driving, and vaulting. This broad description includes the ...
. He finished third overall and won the bronze medal. Fellow countrymen Lindh and Grut took the first and second place respectively.
Since the winter pentathlon would have no other appearances at the Olympic Games, Haase turned to the modern pentathlon. He was selected for the
1956 Summer Olympics
The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XVI Olympiad and officially branded as Melbourne 1956, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December ...
and finished 17th individually. In the team contest Sweden was the favourite as it included Björn Thofelt and the individual Olympic champion
Lars Hall
Lars Göran Ivar Hall (30 April 1927 – 26 April 1991) was a Swedish modern pentathlete who competed at the 1952 and 1956 Summer Olympics. He won the individual event at both Games and finished second with the Swedish team in 1952. In 1952 he ...
. In the first event, horse riding, Thofelt had drawn the lot for a very peculiar horse and eventually suffered from a concussion, after he fell off twice and had to withdraw.Björn Thofelt Swedish Olympic Committee Consequently, the Swedish team was not ranked.
Hasse was also successful at the world championships. He won the team title in 1950, with Lars Hall and
Thor Henning
Thor Henning (13 September 1894 – 7 October 1967) was a Swedish breaststroke and freestyle swimmer who won a four medals at the 1912, 1920 and 1924 Summer Olympics. At the 1912 Summer Olympics he came second after German Walter Bathe in the 4 ...
, and placed third in 1954, with Åke Julin and Thofelt. Haase's home club was ''Studenternas Idrottsförening Stockholm''. He completed an engineering study at the
Royal Institute of Technology
KTH Royal Institute of Technology (), abbreviated KTH, is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH conducts research and education in engineering and technology and is Sweden's largest technical university. Since 2018, KTH consist ...
in
Stockholm
Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
with a focus on
metallurgical
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys.
Metallurgy encompasses both the ...
and then worked in the metallurgical industry in Fagersta, where he resided until his death in July 2014.