John Ljunggren

John Arthur Ljunggren (born September 9, 1919 in Forsheda , Värnamo municipality , Sweden ; † January 13, 2000 in Bor , Värnamo municipality) was a Swedish athlete and Olympic champion in 50 km walking . With a height of 1.78 m, his competition weight was 59 kg.

John Ljunggren is one of the best and most successful walkers in sports history. From 1946 to 1964 he took part in all European championships and in all Olympic Games. He crossed the finish line every time and won a total of 5 medals. In addition, from 1951 to 1953 he set five official world records for going by train.

Olympic games

20 km walking

• 1956 : 4th place in 1:32:24 h
• 1960 : 7th place in 1: 37: 59.0 hours
• 1964 : 19th place in 1:37:03 h

50 km of walking

• 1948 : 1st place in 4: 41: 2 hours
• 1952 : 9th place in 4: 43: 45.2 hours
• 1956 : 3rd place in 4:35:02 h
• 1960 : 2nd place in 4: 25: 47.0 hours
• 1964 : 16th place in 4: 29: 09.2 hours

European championships

50 km walk each time

• 1946 : 1st place in 4: 38.20 hours
• 1950 : 2nd place in 4:43:25 h
• 1954 : 4th place in 4: 38: 09.6 hours
• 1958 : 9th place in 4: 42: 40.8 hours
• 1962 : 5th place in 4:30: 19.8 hours

World records in train walking

• 30,000 m 2: 27: 42.0 h (1952)
• 50,000 m 4:32: 52.0 h (1951)
• 50,000 m 4:29: 58.0 h (1953)
• 30 miles 4: 21: 38.2 h (1951)
• 30 miles 4: 21: 11.0 h (1953)

Top performances

• 20 km 1:32:23 h (1955)
• 50 km 4:19:40 h (1956)

This and that

• According to his own records, he participated in 499 competitions, in which he won 315 times, finished second 101 times and third 33 times.
• At the European Championships in 1950, his brother Werner Ljunggren won the bronze medal behind him.

literature

• Peter Matthews (Ed.): Athletics 2000. Surbiton 2000, ISBN 1-899807-07-1

Web links

• John Ljunggren in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )