Vivi-Anne Hultén

Vivi-Anne Hultén (25 August 1911 – 15 January 2003) was a Swedish figure skater who competed in ladies' singles. She was the 1936 Olympic bronze medalist, a four-time World medalist, a two-time European bronze medalist, and a ten-time Swedish national champion.[1][2]

Vivi-Anne Hultén
Vivi-Anne Hultén in 1932
Personal information
Country representedSweden
Born(1911-08-25)25 August 1911
Antwerp, Belgium
Died15 January 2003(2003-01-15) (aged 91)
Corona del Mar, California, United States
Skating clubStockholms Allmänna Skridskoklubb
Medal record
Representing  Sweden
Figure skating: Ladies' singles
Olympic Games
1936 Garmisch-PartenkirchenSingles
World Championships
1937 LondonSingles
1936 ParisSingles
1935 ViennaSingles
1933 StockholmSingles
European Championships
1932 ParisSingles
1930 ViennaSingles

Personal life

Vivi-Anne Hultén was born in Antwerp, Belgium. She was married twice, first to the American steel importer Nils Tholand.[2] In 1942, she married Gene Theslof, a Finnish figure skater and gymnast,[3] with whom she had a son by the same name.[4] The Teslofs trained their son Gene Theslof III to become a leading adagio skater who toured with Holiday on Ice in the USA during the 1960s. He later became a business executive in California. Hultén died at 91 of heart failure in Corona del Mar, California, surviving her husband by 20 years.[5] She was the grandmother of American professional soccer coach Nick Theslof.

Career

Hultén was coached by a brother of Gillis Grafström.[3] She finished fifth at the 1932 Winter Olympics. In 1933, she finished second to Sonia Henie at the 1933 World Championships held in Stockholm.[3]

Hultén won the bronze medal at the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. When told to do a Nazi salute to Hitler, she declined and said "I am from Sweden. I don't do things like that."[6] Swedish newspapers have named her the country's all-time female athlete. A lake in Budapest has a statue of her performing a spiral.[5]

After turning professional, Hultén toured with the Ice Follies, Ice Cycles, and Ice Capades. She formed an adagio pair with Theslof, her future husband, who had skated with Henie for seven years, and the pair toured the United States and Europe. In the mid 1960s, she settled in the United States and opened a large skating school in St. Paul, Minnesota with Theslof.[1]

Hultén was hired as a skating coach by Herb Brooks for his Minnesota North Stars hockey team. She performed for the King and Queen of Sweden and also skated in ten ice shows with the Ice Capades in Minneapolis, Minnesota up until the at age of 80. She actively taught on the ice until age 86.

Results
International
Event 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937
Winter Olympics5th3rd
World Champ.5th5th2nd4th3rd3rd3rd
European Champ.3rd4th3rd
National
Swedish Champ.1st1st1st1st1st
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References
  1. Vivi-Anne Hultén. sports-reference.com
  2. Vivi-Anne Hultén. Swedish Olympic Committee
  3. Bird, Dennis (29 January 2003). "Obituary: Vivi-Anne Hulten". The Independent. Archived from the original on 10 December 2010.
  4. "Vivi-Anne Hulten, 91, Swedish Skater". The New York Times. 25 January 2003.
  5. McLellan, Dennis (24 January 2003). "V. Hulten, 91; Top Figure Skater in Sweden Had Feud With Rival Henie". The Los Angeles Times.
  6. Article by Lennart K Persson in Svenskt kvinnobiografiskt lexikon
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