Gösta Lilliehöök

Gösta Lilliehöök was the first ever Olympic champion in the modern pentathlon. In 1912, he won gold at the first edition at the Stockholm Olympics. His best discipline was shooting, in which he finished third. In the final discipline, running, he started from second place overall, but his fifth place there was enough to overtake the previous leader, Georg de Laval and to keep the winner of the run, Gösta Åsbrink, at bay.

Lilliehöök was the son of the first court marshal Carl Malcolm Lilliehöök. Gösta became a second lieutenant in the Svea artillery regiment in 1906, a lieutenant in 1910, and a captain in 1918. Subsequently, he was transferred to the reserve. He then spent a few years in the US before studying radio engineering at the BBC in London. Back in Sweden he was one the first employees of the Radio Service and worked there until 1947. After his retirement, he owned a farm in Bettna in Södermanland until 1969.

In 1922, Lilliehöök married Anna Dorothea de Fine Blaauw, who was born in the USA and was of Norwegian descent. The marriage remained childless.