Lars Hall

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Lars Hall (center) 1956, with Olavi Mannonen (left) and Väino Korhonen (right)

Lars Göran Ivar Hall (born April 30, 1927 in Karlskrona , † April 26, 1991 in Täby ) was a Swedish modern pentathlete . He won the individual gold medal at two Olympic Games.

Hall was a trained carpenter. After starting the sport with the Swedish fleet, he continued his career after he left. In 1950 and 1951 Hall won the individual world championships, with the Swedish team he became world champions in 1949, 1950, 1951 and 1953.

At the Olympic Games in Helsinki in 1952 he won the individual disciplines riding and swimming, was seventh in fencing, eighth in running and fifteenth in shooting. In 1952 the placements in these disciplines were added up. Hall won gold with 32 points ahead of the Hungarian Gábor Benedek . In the team standings, the Hungarians won with 166 points ahead of the Swedes with 182 points. Hall was the first modern pentathlon Olympic champion to win this title after completing his military service. Until then, career officers had predominated.

From 1954, the placements no longer counted, a point scoring was introduced. This year the Swedish winning streak at the world championships broke off, the Swedish team only won bronze, although Björn Thofelt was able to become world champion in the individual standings . At the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Lars Hall was able to repeat his success from 1952. He won with 4833 points ahead of the Finn Olavi Mannonen with 4774.5 points. The Swedes could not place in the team competition because Björn Thofelt fell twice while riding and gave up.

Lars Hall received the Svenska Dagbladet gold medal for his second Olympic victory in 1956 , together with the skier Sixten Jernberg .

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