 Hedmark in 1964 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | 18 May 1944 (1944-05-18) (age 81) Skellefteå, Sweden |
| Height | 195 cm (6 ft 5 in) |
| Weight | 90 kg (198 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Athletics |
Event | Decathlon |
| Club | Skellefteå AIK |
Lennart Per-Olav Hedmark (born 18 May 1944) is a retired Swedish track and field athlete who competed in thedecathlon. He represented his country at the 1968, 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics with the best result of eighth place in 1976.[1]
He started his career as ajavelin throw specialist and claimed three straight titles in the event at the Swedish Championships from 1963 to 1965.[2] He was selected to compete at the1964 Summer Olympics, but did not start the competition. His first international medal came at the1965 Summer Universiade, where he was thebronze medallist.[3]
Hedmark was anAll-American javelin thrower for thePenn State Nittany Lions track and field team, finishing runner-up in that event at the1965 NCAA University Division outdoor track and field championships.[4]
Hedmark changed his focus tocombined events in 1967 and he was one of his region's dominant athletes over his career: he had four consecutive victories in the Nordic Combined Events Championships from 1967 to 1970,[5] and in a decade of national competition he won seven Swedish decathlon titles in addition to five titles in thepentathlon.[2] At the1968 Summer Olympics he came eleventh in the decathlon.[1] International medals came at the1970 Summer Universiade, where he took thesilver behindMykola Avilov,[3] and at the1971 European Athletics Championships, finishing as runner-up to the defending championJoachim Kirst.[6]
He made his second Olympic appearance at the1972 Munich Games, but he did not manage to finish the competition.[1] The following year he was the inaugural winner of theEuropean Combined Events Cup.[7] His best performance of the year came inBonn and his total of 8163 points was the best by any athlete that year.[8] Hedmark's final major appearance came at the1976 Summer Olympics and had his best Olympic outing with a score of 8002 for eighth place.[1]
Although he never won a major title, Hedmark's career was one of the most prolific as he competed in a total of 76 combined events competitions. This was the greatest number ever for a top level athlete at the time and remains among the highest totals;Kip Janvrin bettered this achievement and was himself succeeded byRoman Šebrle, who completed over 100 appearances. Hedmark is now the fourth most prolific combined eventer after Janvrin, Šebrle andTomáš Dvořák.[9]
He married BritonLinda Knowles, a fellow top class European athlete.[10]
Media related toLennart Hedmark at Wikimedia Commons
