Richard Dahl (also known as Rickard Dahl; 5 August 1933 – 8 August 2007) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

track and field athlete who competed in the

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 ...

. His short-lived career was defined by a surprise win at the

1958 European Athletics Championships The 6th European Athletics Championships were held from 19–24 August 1958 in the Olympic Stadium of Stockholm, Sweden. Contemporaneous reports on the event were given in the Glasgow Herald. Medal summary Complete results were publi ...

in a Swedish record of .

Career

In 1957 Dahl won his first significant medal, a silver at the national championships behind Stig Pettersson, the leading Swedish jumper of the era. Both repeated that placing the following year. At the

, held in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, Dahl set a Swedish record and

championship record The sports under the umbrella of athletics, particularly track and field, use a variety of statistics. In order to report that information efficiently, numerous abbreviations have grown to be common in the sport. Starting in 1948 by Bert Nelson a ...

at , beating

Jiří Lanský Jiří Lanský (17 September 1933 – 14 February 2017) was a Czech high jumper who won silver medals at the 1954 and 1958 European Championships. He finished seventh at the 1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimp ...

and Stig Pettersson. He became the fourth, and thus the latest male Swede to win the title, following

Kurt Lundqvist Kurt Lundqvist (20 November 1914 – 26 March 1976) was a Swedish track and field athlete who competed in the high jump. He was the 1938 European champion in the event. He won his first national title in 1933 and established himself as the top ...

Anton Bolinder Anton Bolinder (3 June 1915 – 7 December 2006) was a Swedish high jumper. He won a gold medal at the 1946 European Athletics Championships setting a new national record at . For this achievement he was awarded the Stora grabbars märke Stor ...

and Bengt Nilsson. For this performance he was awarded the

Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal The Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal ( sv, Svenska Dagbladets guldmedalj, but usually simply called ''Bragdguldet'', "The Feat Gold") is an annual award "for the most significant Swedish sports achievement of the year". It has been awarded by a jury le ...

and designated the

Stora grabbars märke Stora Enso Oyj (from sv, Stora and fi, Enso ) is a manufacturer of pulp, paper and other forest products, headquartered in Helsinki, Finland. The majority of sales takes place in Europe, but there are also significant operations in Asia and S ...

number 200 in athletics.Richard Dahl 1933-2007
. Stora grabbar. Retrieved on 18 October 2014. Dahl won two more international medals – a bronze at the 1959 International University Games (clearing two metres) and a silver at the inaugural Nordic Athletics Championships (where he lost to Petterssen by ten centimetres). His final achievement of note was a third place at the Swedish Championships in 1960. After retiring from competition, he became a

sports journalist Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism started in the early 1800s when it was targeted to the social elite and transitioned into an integral part of the n ...

for the local paper ''Länstidningen Södertälje'', and later for the regional ''Nordvästra Skånes Tidningar''.EM-guldmedaljören Richard Dahl död
. Sydsvenskan (8 August 2007). Retrieved on 2014-10-18.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dahl, Richard 1933 births 2007 deaths Swedish male high jumpers European Athletics Championships medalists People from Landskrona Municipality Sportspeople from Skåne County