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| Full name | Bernhoff Otelius Hansen | ||||||||||||||
| Born | (1877-08-17)August 17, 1877 Rognan, Norway | ||||||||||||||
| Died | December 22, 1950(1950-12-22) (aged 73) New York, New York, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Bernhoff Otelius Hansen (August 17, 1877 – December 22, 1950) was a Norwegian-American wrestler who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics for the United States.
He was born in Rognan in Saltdal Municipality in Norway. Originally, he was a Norwegian wrestler in Nordland, but one and a half years before the 1904 Olympic Games, he left Norway for the United States. He was affiliated with the Brooklyn-based Norwegian Turnverein gymnastic society. Hansen was sponsored by the Norwegian Turnverein at the Olympics in 1904. Hansen won three matches at the 1904 Olympics and the gold medal in the freestyle heavyweight category, wrestling on the United States team.
His first name was spelled "Bernhoff" by FILA and in an article by The New York Times from January 16, 1918. By the time of the article, he was referred to as a "Norwegian light-heavyweight wrestler". Hansen died in New York City at the age of 73.
In 2012, Norwegian historians found documentation showing that Hansen was registered as an "alien" (foreigner) as late as 1925 and questioning whether he ever received American citizenship. The historians thus petitioned to have Hansen's gold registered as Norwegian.
References
- "Bernhoff Hansen". Olympedia. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
- Bernhuff Hansen (Official website of the Olympic Movement)
- "Her er beviset som endrer norsk idrettshistorie". NRK. August 14, 2012.
External links
- Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Bernhoff Hansen". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020.
- Bernhoff Hansen at the International Wrestling Database
- Bernhoff Hansen at Olympics.com
- Bernhoff Hansen at Olympedia
 Olympic Champions in freestyle heavyweight | |
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- 1877 births
- 1950 deaths
- People from Saltdal
- Norwegian emigrants to the United States
- Wrestlers at the 1904 Summer Olympics
- American male sport wrestlers
- Olympic gold medalists for the United States in wrestling
- Medalists at the 1904 Summer Olympics
- American Olympic medalist stubs
- American sport wrestler stubs