Ture Wilhelm "Thor" Axelsson (3 July 1921 – 2 August 2012) was a Finnish sprint canoer who competed in the late 1940s. He won two bronze medals at the 1948 Summer Olympics in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, earning them in the K-2 1000 m and K-2 10000 m events. He was born in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

. Axelsson also won a gold medal in the K-2 500 m event at the 1948 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in London. Note that the K-2 500 m event did not become an official event at the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The ina ...

until the 1976 Games in

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. The event has been on the Olympic program since then.

References

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Thor Axelsson's profile at Sports Reference.com
1921 births 2012 deaths Sportspeople from Helsinki Canoeists at the 1948 Summer Olympics Finnish male canoeists Olympic canoeists of Finland Olympic bronze medalists for Finland Olympic medalists in canoeing ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships medalists in kayak {{Finland-canoe-bio-stub Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics