Carl Olsen

Carl Olsen was an electrician’s apprentice when he started cycling, and later worked in a cycle factory or workshop. In 1912, he competed in the road time trial at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm. He did not finish the race and withdrew in Enköping, after about three-quarters of the total distance. Norway was not counted for the team event, as only three of the required four members finished the race.

In the mid-1910s he worked on ships crossing the Atlantic to New York in various positions, eventually as a ship’s carpenter. In New York, he married his fellow countrywoman Bertha Sofie Aanonsen, who had come to the United States in 1910. They had at least three children together. Olsen acquired American citizenship but died in Norway at the age of 74.