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|  Gunder Hagg passes away - A Tribute to Sweden's World Record Breaker By Lennart Julin November 29, 2004 Courtesy of IAAF
The IAAF has received the sad news that Gunder Hagg, Sweden's
multiple World record breaker of the 1940's era died yesterday,
Saturday 27 November, at the age of 85. Hagg had been living in a nursing home near Malmo, Sweden for
sometime, and his failing health had confined him to a wheelchair. Born
on 31 December 1918, he fell just short of his 86th birthday. Hagg set over a dozen middle distance World records at events ranging
from 1500m to 5000m, including three at both the 1500m and the Mile,
one at 3000m and one at 5000m. Exchanging the records at 1500m and the Mile on a regular basis with
his compatriot Arne Andersson on tracks in Gothenburg, Malmo and
Stockholm, this duo of famous Swedes, benefitting from the relative calm
of their country's neutrality during World War Two, obliterated the World
records, and redefined the boundaries of middle distance running. IAAF ------------- GUNDER HAGG Renowned Swedish Athletics historian and statistican Lennart Julin
gives his own personal tribute: Usually it takes a number of Olympic gold medals to achieve the status
as a true legend of our sport but Swedish runner Gunder Hagg - who on
Saturday passed away at the age of 85 - belonged to a very select
group of extraordinary athletes who have managed to become icons
despite lack of Olympic success. The athletic career of Gunder Hagg was such that had he been born in
the USA it would - without the need for any additions to the bare facts -
certainly have been used as script for a sentimental Hollywood film
because the story contained just about every element of drama,
emotion, success and failure needed. It all began on New Year's Eve 1918 when Gunder Hagg was born on a
small farm in the forests of northern Sweden. From a fairly early age he
had to help out on the family farm where the main income came from
timber work. His school was three kilometres away a distance which he
walked, ran or travelled by ski (in the winter) every day. Kalarne's inspiration However, serious competitive sports was not really something he
considered until he and his father started to hear about the running
success of a six years older boy from a nearby village. That boy Henry
Jonsson (later Henry Kalarne) thanks to his athletic ability had not only
become famous but also - and more importantly - got a good job in the
fire brigade in "the big city". This kindled thoughts of "If Henry - why not also me?" and one summer
day in 1936 Hagg's father measured a 750m course on a trail in the
woods and asked him to run this course back and forth, while he (the
father) would time the run on the alarm clock, and when he came back
his father reported his time was 4:45. That was the decisive moment and Hagg started to compete in local
meets and ended the year with personal best of 4:14 and 16:11. Times
which are still quite respectable for a 17 years old beginner. Already the following year the whole nation became fully aware of this
exceptional talent from the province of Jamtland: He was invited to
compete for the first time in the Stockholm Olympic Stadium and finished
4th in 8:36.8 in an international 3000m race. At age 18! The following year he got his first national championships medal when
finishing 2nd in the steeplechase (!) and his plans for 1939 were
ambitious. However, a serious case of pneumonia disrupted all plans
and when he left the hospital he was told by the doctor that he had
better give up all plans of returning to competitive sport. But Hagg did not listen to that advice, instead while doing his military
service in northernmost Sweden during a very cold winter he started
training intensely more or less every day by running in deep snow. And
when the summer came he suddenly found he had arrived in the world
elite. Two races - although he lost both to Henry Kalarne - stood out: On 4
August Hagg finished just a fraction behind Kalarne's national record
equalling 3:48.8 and on 14 August he ran 8:11.8 for 3000m which was
three seconds faster than the old World record but only good for 2nd in
the race. The magic summer of 1942 Gunder Hagg's first World record of his own came in 1941 when he won
the Swedish 1500m title in 3:47.6 lowering Jack Lovelock's winning time
from the 1936 Olympics by two tenths. But it was 1942 that would
become Hagg's "Year of years". In late summer of 1941 he was
suspended for a minor infringement of the amateur rules, and he was
not allowed to compete until 1 July 1942. Perhaps this was a blessing in disguise as he was able to bulk up on
both mental and physical energy and he certainly returned "with a
bang": In a Mile race in Goteborg he won a hard fought battle with Arne
Andersson in the new World record of 4:06.2. This signalled the
beginning of a truly amazing period of twelve weeks that would contain
no less than ten new world records! 1 July: 4:06.2 (1 mile) One can but speculate how much longer the list would have been had
he not lost a couple of weeks of training in late July and early August
due to illness. And as he still was only 23 years old one would assume
that even greater things were about to be achieved in years to come. US tour and loss of record condition However, things do not always go according to plans and although
training was progressing better than ever in the spring of 1943 no new
records came, because Hagg accepted an invitation to compete in the
USA, and the long Atlantic crossing by boat at the height of the 2nd
World War destroyed his form completely. Some desperate "crash training" upon arrival managed to restore
enough to compete successfully on US soil during that summer but the
World record capacity was gone. And even worse: He actually lost two
of his records as compatriot Arne Andersson running back home in
Sweden snatched the top marks at both 1500m and 1 mile. Back in Sweden Hagg began preparing for 1944 with the aim of
reclaiming the lost records. He did manage in the 1500m when a
memorable battle at Slottsskogsvallen in Gothenburg ended with
Andersson taking one full second off his World record time but still
losing by another full second as Hagg ran 3:43.0! But when they met
over the mile distance eleven days later it was Andersson who prevailed
in the new World record of 4:01.6 with Gunder four tenths behind. Despite running faster than ever in those two races - and lowering his 2
miles World record twice - it was obvious that Hagg was not as good as
in the magic summer of 1942 when he was truly untouchable running 32
races and winning all them with apparent ease. Arne Andersson now
won four of their five encounters. It seemed as if Hagg had lost that mental spark and that became even
more apparent in 1945. He ran over thirty races that summer but only
one truly outstanding: On 17 July in Malmo he and Arne once more
faced each other over the One Mile distance and the race was won by
Gunder in 4:01.4, two tenths quicker than Andersson's World record. No where near his physical peak Having accomplished his mission of reclaiming the lost records Hagg
seemed to be content. Actually he had every now and then indicated
that he was not that interested in running as such seeing it as a means
rather than as an end in itself. And he had indeed accomplished his and
his father's initial ambitions of using the running ability as a "social
lever": In 1941 he got the job on the fire brigade in Gavle and three
years later he moved to Malmo when through the athletics club MAI was
offered a job in clothing store. Therefore he afterwards said that the life time suspension for violating
the amateur rules he received from the Swedish Athletics Association on
17 March 1946 came more or less as a welcome relief: The perfect
excuse which meant that without any regrets he could go on with the
rest of his life! He probably never worried over having only three
individual national titles (1500m in 1941, 5000m in 1944 and 1945),
having never competed in any international championship or having just
five appearances in international matches Most likely he also never cared for the fact that his record times were
nowhere near his peak physical abilities. Looking at intermediate times
(1500m) and lack of competition (5000m) it appears that he in 1942
could have run times like 3:40/13:45 and he certainly missed the
opportunity to run the first sub-4 mile. Because if you run 4:01 when not
in top shape and after a 56.6 opening lap it is obvious that a 3:57/3:58
was in the cards in a "perfect" race. But it is just us fans that have worried about that, not Gunder himself. He
already had the records so why bother? And he still certainly made his
mark in athletics history: He lowered the 1500m record by 4.8 s, the mile
by 5.0 s, the 2000m by 5.0 s, the 3000m by 7.8 s, the 2 miles by 10.4 s,
the 3 miles by 10.0 s and the 5000m by 10.6 s! Furthermore: At the main
distances (1500m, 1 Mile and 5000m) his records stood until 1954, i.e.
for about a decade! Never forgotten But despite the fact that Gunder Hagg only was an athlete for a very brief
period of his long life he was - and will always continue to be -
remembered for his extraordinary athletic accomplishments. His name
has never been forgotten in Sweden and whenever a new middle
distance talent emerges comparisons with Hagg are inevitable. Even as
late as this summer the media were quick to notice that his legendary
3:43.0 would have been leading the Swedish list for 2004 - a full 60
years later!! What, however, probably will be forgotten - and certainly never
understood - by future generations is the role "Gunder Hagg the World
record runner" had as an inspiring national symbol for a small nation on
the fringes of being engulfed by WW2. He and his accomplishments
transcended the sports environment and installed confidence, optimism
and pride in the whole Swedish people in a very crucial period in its
history.
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