Johan Friele

Johan Friele
Nationality:	Norway
Birthday:	November 29, 1866
Place of birth:	Mountains
Date of death:	October 1, 1927
Place of death:	Mountains
Society:	Bergens Seilforening (BS)
Boat classes:	12 meter class
Medal table
Olympic games 1 × 0 × 0 ×
Olympic games gold Antwerp 1920 12 meter class (type 1919)

Johan Friele (born November 29, 1866 in Bergen , † October 1, 1927 there ) was a Norwegian sailor and doctor.

Successes at the Olympic Games

Johan Friele that for the Bergen Seilforening sailed, was in 1920 in Antwerp at the Olympic Games in the 12-meter class after the International Rule of 1919 Olympic champion . He was the skipper of the Heira II , which participated as the only boat in its class. The Heira II was enough for lack of competition in two races each reaching the goal to win the gold medal. The crew included club members Arthur Allers , Martin Borthen , Kaspar Hassel , Egill Reimers , Christen Wiese and the three brothers Thor , Olaf and Erik Ørvig .

Professional background

Johan Friele was a renowned surgeon and gynecologist as a doctor . His first job after graduation was as a family doctor for fishermen on the Lofoten archipelago . In 1884 he returned to Bergen and worked as a general practitioner, surgeon and gynecologist at the Bergen Private Clinic and later at the Red Cross Clinic. As a doctor, he was valued for helping the poor. He was also active as a local politician and chairman of the sailing association.

Sailing successes

Johan Friele was a well-known sailor even before the First World War . He got his first experience in rowing , where he won 13 first prizes in local races and became known for his endurance. In 1889 he became a member of the Bergen Seilbaadforening sailing club (later renamed Bergens Seilforening ). During the first few years he took part in local regattas as a crew member or with boats that he had borrowed from other club members.

Friele bought his first own boat in 1898 and named it Skum ( German  foam ). With this yacht he took part in various international sailing regattas, also in places with bad weather. In 1904 he won his first international race in Gothenburg (Sweden). In 1908 he bought the yacht Skum II , a 10-meter class boat that was technically very modern for its time , designed by his compatriot Johan Anker . With the new yacht, he immediately won first place in the first regatta in Bergen in 1909. He then sailed the yacht to Kiel and Copenhagen and again won various first places in the 10-meter class. Although he was able to establish himself with his yacht in the top group in Scandinavia, technical progress demanded further developments in boat construction.

In 1914, a new Skum III yacht in the 12-meter class was built for Johan Friele by the Camper & Nicholsons shipyard and redesigned by Johan Anker. This yacht could not meet the expectations placed on it. World War I broke out and sailing competitions were limited to Scandinavia, which was not involved in the war. Because he was not successful regionally with the yacht, he sold it after two years. With the yachts Skum IV and Skum V , both older boats, he was able to build on earlier successes on a regional level.

In 1919 he began to prepare for the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp . He competed as skipper of the 12-meter yacht Heira II on the regatta course off Oostende , which belonged to his club mate Olaf Ørvig , and won the gold medal.

After the Olympic Games in 1920 he turned to touring sailing and in 1922 founded the Turseilingspokal of Kongelig Norsk Seilforening . The jury awarded the first trophy to Friele himself.

Johan Friele's entire sailing career spanned a period of 30 years until he sold his yacht Skum V in 1924.

Web links

• Johan Friele in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )