Holger Nielsen

As a true all-round sportsman and pioneer, Denmark’s Holger Nielsen won three medals at the first modern Olympic Games, developed an early set of rules for handball, and invented a method to revive people who had drowned. While he was undertaking his military service Nielsen learnt how to fence in addition to becoming a gymnastics teacher.

Nielsen was one of three Danes to represent their country at the 1896 Athína Olympics where he took part in fencing, shooting, and the discus throw. He was also scheduled to compete in three swimming races but did not start in any of them. Nielsen won two medals in shooting with silver in the 30 metres free pistol and bronze in the 25 metres muzzle-loading pistol. He also finished in fifth-place in the 25 metres military pistol event. In the sabre fencing Nielsen won bronze after winning two out of his four bouts in the tournament. He was one of the nine athletes to compete in the discus but the length of his throw was not recorded.

In 1898 Nielsen was working as a teacher at the Ordrup Latin School where he developed an early set of rules for handball that were eventually published in 1906. A match was played the following year between Nielsen’s Ordrup school and a school from Helsingør, with Ordrup recording a comfortable win of 21–0. The same year Nielsen helped to found the Danish Swimming and Lifesaving Association, and he went on to chair the organisation from 1910 to 1920. In 1932 he invented the Holger Nielsen method to be used to revive someone who had drowned. This form of resuscitation was used well into the 1950s until mouth-to-mouth resuscitation became the standard.