Charles Ericksen

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Charles F. Ericksen (born June 20, 1875 as Karl Fredrik Eriksen in Tønsberg , Norway , † February 24, 1916 in New York City , New York , USA ) was a Norwegian wrestler who wrestled at the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis , Missouri represented the United States and won the welterweight division (up to 158 lb / 71.67 kg) the gold medal ahead of William "Bill" Beckman (silver) and Jerry Winholtz (bronze).

It was not until 2012 that Norwegian historians discovered that Hansen was listed as an alien , i.e. as a permanent foreigner resident in the USA, until March 22, 1905 , and that it was only then that he received US citizenship. That is why these same historians pleaded for the gold medal, which was evaluated for the United States, to be retrospectively evaluated for Norway, since naturalization did not take place until after the Olympic Games.

life and career

Eriksen was born in 1875 under the Norwegian name Karl Fredrik Eriksen in Tønsberg, the capital of the second smallest province in Norway after Oslo , Vestfold . At the age of 14 he finally came by ship to New York City, where he entered on July 18, 1889. Soon after his arrival in New York, he joined the Norwegian Gymnastics Club in what was then the second largest district of Brooklyn , which he also represented at the Olympic Games in 1904. In the USA, he soon gave up his maiden name and called himself Charles Ericksen from then on ; With this name he was naturalized in 1905. At the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis , he was able to prevail in a field of ten athletes in his weight class and win the gold medal. Although there was a tie in the quarterfinals match against Jerry Winholtz , the decision to win fell on Ericksen. After defeating William Hennessy after a time of 2:58 minutes in the semi-final , William "Bill" Beckman, who had been fighting since the first round, was waiting in the final . When after 15:00 minutes there was still no winner, the decision was again made on the self-sacrificing Norwegian, who thus secured the gold medal.

Ericksen was also active as a wrestler in the years that followed, mainly in New York City and his native Brooklyn. Almost exactly two years to the day after his Olympic victory, he was elected to the AAU wrestling committee, where he then worked in administrative areas. At the Summer Olympics in Stockholm in 1912 , the already naturalized Ericksen appeared as the trainer of the Norwegian athletics department; He had held this position since 1911. After the Olympic Games, in which the Norwegians achieved a total of ten medals (3 × gold, 2 × silver and 5 × bronze), the gold medalist returned to New York in 1904. There he devoted himself, as shortly after the Olympic Games in 1904, above all to sports-administrative activities and was president of the Scandinavian-American Athletic League and a member of the Amateur Athletic Union until his death . In early May 1915, Charles Ericksen rose to chair the wrestling committee of the AAU and was also active in this office until his death.

Charles Ericksen died on February 24, 1916 at the age of 40 in Brooklyn, where he lived until his death. According to other sources, Ericksen died a day earlier, on February 23. The funeral of the ex-wrestler, who last lived on Hicks Street in New York Harbor , took place shortly after his death on February 26, 1916. As it became known on the day of his funeral, Ericksen died of carbon monoxide poisoning caused by a gas leak in his apartment.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Her er beviset som endrer norsk idrettshistorie (Norwegian), accessed on January 19, 2014
  2. ^ New AAU Committees. - Article in The New York Times, October 19, 1906 , accessed January 21, 2014
  3. ↑ How the Points May Go at the Olympics - Article in The New York Times, June 23, 1912 , accessed January 21, 2014
  4. ↑ Rubien Names His AIDS. - Article in The New York Times on May 6, 1915 , accessed January 21, 2014
  5. ↑ a b Obituary 1 - Article in The New York Times, February 26, 1916 , accessed January 21, 2014
  6. ↑ see e.g. B. his profile on sports-reference.com
  7. ↑ CF Ericksen's Funeral Today. - Article in The New York Times on February 26, 1916 , accessed January 21, 2014
personal data
SURNAME Ericksen, Charles
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ericksen, Charles F .; Eriksen, Karl Fredrik (full name, maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Norwegian wrestler
DATE OF BIRTH June 20, 1875
PLACE OF BIRTH Tonsberg , Norway
DATE OF DEATH February 24, 1916
Place of death New York City , New York, United States