Jacob Gundersen (29 October 1875 – 21 January 1968) 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 ...

who represented

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 ...

in the

1908 Olympics The 1908 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the IV Olympiad and also known as London 1908) were an international multi-sport event held in London, England, from 27 April to 31 October 1908. The 1908 Games were originally schedu ...

. He was a

freestyle wrestler Freestyle wrestling is a style of wrestling. It is one of two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic Games, along with Greco-Roman wrestling, Greco-Roman. scholastic wrestling, High school wrestling and men's collegiate wrestling in the U ...

and Olympic medalist. Gundersen was born in

Fjære Fjære is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in the old Aust-Agder counties of Norway, county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1846 until 1971. It was located to the north of the Grimstad (town), town of Grims ...

(later incorporated into

Grimstad Grimstad () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder counties of Norway, county, Norway. It belongs to the geographical region of Southern Norway, Sørlandet. The administrative center of the municipality is the Grimstad (to ...

), in

Aust-Agder Aust-Agder (, ) was a county (''fylke'') in Norway from 1 January 1919 to 31 December 2019, after it was merged with Vest-Agder to form Agder county. In 2002, there were 102,945 inhabitants, which was 2.2% of Norway's population. Its area was . ...

county,

. He received a silver medal in the ''heavyweight'' class at the

1908 Summer Olympics The 1908 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the IV Olympiad and also known as London 1908) were an international multi-sport event held in London, England, from 27 April to 31 October 1908. The 1908 Games were originally schedu ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

."1908 Summer Olympics – London, United Kingdom – Wrestling"
''databaseOlympics.com'' (Retrieved on 7 April 2008) The heavyweight class had eleven competitors, nine wrestlers from the UK, one from the US, and Gundersen from Norway. Gundersen defeated Walter West, Frederick Humphreys and Edward Nixson, but lost to

Con O'Kelly George Cornelius "Con" O'Kelly (29 October 1886 – 3 November 1947) was an Irish Amateur wrestling, sport wrestler who competed for Great Britain in the 1908 Summer Olympics, where he won a gold medal. Career O'Kelly was born in County Cork, ...

in the final. Jacob Gundersen died in Westchester, New York.

References

External links

* 1875 births 1968 deaths Sportspeople from Grimstad Olympic wrestlers for Norway Wrestlers at the 1908 Summer Olympics Norwegian male sport wrestlers Olympic silver medalists for Norway Norwegian emigrants to the United States Olympic medalists in wrestling Medalists at the 1908 Summer Olympics {{Norway-wrestling-bio-stub