Gunhild Maria Larking (born 13 January 1936) is a retired Swedish

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

er.

Biography

She competed at the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics (, ), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad (, ) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952, were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1952 in Helsinki, Finland. After Japan declared in ...

1954 European Athletics Championships The 5th European Athletics Championships were held at Stadion Neufeld from 25–29 August 1954 in the Swiss capital Bern. Contemporaneous reports on the event were given in the Glasgow Herald. Medal summary Complete results were publis ...

and

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 placed ninth in 1952 and fourth in 1954 and 1956. She won five consecutive national titles from 1952 to 1956. While she was at the 1956 Summer Olympic Games, she was the subject of a series of shots taken by

George Silk George Silk (17 November 1916 – 23 October 2004) was a New Zealand-born Australian photojournalist. He served as a photojournalist for Life magazine, ''Life'' for 30 years. Early life Silk was born in the New Zealand town of Levin, New Zea ...

for ''Life'' magazine. One of these, published on the Christmas number of ''Life'' shorter after, received international fame and Larking herself began receiving requests as a model.

References

External links

friidrott.se:s Stora Grabbar-sida
1936 births Swedish female high jumpers Athletes (track and field) at the 1952 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1956 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Sweden Living people Sportspeople from Jönköping Athletes from Jönköping County 20th-century Swedish sportswomen {{Sweden-athletics-bio-stub