Nils Rydström

Nils Rydström represented Sweden in foil fencing at two editions of the Olympics Games. In 1948, he finished fourth in his round one pool, after winning four bouts and losing three. This qualified him for the quarter-finals, where he lost all six of his bouts and was eliminated. He performed better in 1952, winning five of his seven bouts in the first round to tie for first in his pool with Luke Wendon of Great Britain and Norwegian Leif Klette. This time, however, he advanced beyond the quarter-finals after winning four of his six bouts and placing third overall. In the semi-finals, however, he won only one of his five matches and did not advance further. In the team event, he was eliminated in the quarter-finals alongside Rolf Magnusson, Sven Fahlman, and Bo Eriksson.

Rydström had better luck at the World Championships. In 1950, he won a bronze medal in the team épée, alongside Fahlman, Per Carleson, Carl Forssell, Berndt-Otto Rehbinder, and the non-Olympian Ingemar Bondeson. In 1954, he captured silver in the same event with almost the same lineup, as Bondeson was replaced with another non-Olympian, Bengt Ljungqvist. Rydström lived in England for a period of time and attained the rank of Commodore. He later returned to Stockholm, however, where he died in September 2018 at the age of 97.