Leif Rode

Leif Rode joined the Norske Studenters Roklubb (NSR) in 1906 and rowed with the club’s team in the coxed four at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm. After advancing by forfeit in the first round, they lost to the eventual silver medallists from the Thames Rowing Club.

Rode was the chairman of the NSR for the first time in 1913 and chairman of the Norwegian Rowing Federation from 1918-24. From 1918-19, he acted as president of the Norges Riksforbund for Idrett (Norwegian National Sport Federation) and from 1925-30 of the renamed Norges Landsforbund for Idrett, which led to a split in the Norwegian sports movement. In 1938, Rode became a member of the council of the Association for the Promotion of Skiing, and was the association’s chairman from 1952–54.

Leif Rode graduated from the Frogner School in 1903 and served as an officer. He then started his law studies in 1908 working as a legal clerk until he until he was admitted to the bar in 1916. Both during and after World War II, he was a defense attorney at the Eidsivating Court of Appeal from 1933–45. During the occupation years Rode defended Norwegian prisoners in German court-martial cases. After the war, he was appointed defense attorney at the Supreme Court and was involved in various treason trials. Rode was a board member of various companies in the whaling business and of a butter factory founded by his grandfather.

After World War II, Leif Rode published, amongst others, a number of anthologies of songs and poetry under a pseudonym. He was honoured with the Sports Medal in Gold and the Royal Order of the Polar Star. In 1911 he married Anna Sundt Bøckmann Puntervold Falkenberg and had two daughters.