Finn Hodt

Finn Hodt was a legend in Norwegian speed skating, mostly for his work as coach, team leader, and motivator for the leading Norwegian skaters from 1961 to 1994. He started his skating career in 1933 when he finished second in the primary school championships in his home town Drammen. He joined Drammen Skøiteklub a few days later, and in the same season became club champion for boys 12-14 years old. In his youth Hodt excelled in several sports: ski jumping, cross-country skiing, football (he played for Strømsgodset IF when the club won the 1936 national junior championship), and athletics (long jump of 6.33 at age 16). In speed skating he excelled as a sprinter, with an unofficial junior world record of 43.8 in 1938 and an unofficial national record of 42.3 in 1940 on a 250 m track in Bergen. In 1940 he won the 500 metres in the Norwegian All-Around Championships in Hamar. After the German occupation of Norway in April 1940, the Norwegian sports associations boycotted after the Quisling regime tried to take control over all sports events in Norway. Hodt was persuaded not to follow the boycott, and participated in German-controlled speed skating events from 1941-45.

After the war, Hodt returned to speed skating in 1950, and in 1952 skated 43.4 in the 500 metres and was nominated by the Norwegian Skating Union for the 1952 Oslo Olympics, but the Norwegian NOC rejected his selection because he had collaborated during the German occupation in World War II. He continued to participate, and won the 500 m at the Norwegian Allround Championships in 1951, 1953-54 and 1957, and won bronze medals in the All-Around Championships in 1953-54 and 1957.

Hodt was selected to skate the 500 m at Cortina in 1956, and finished in 13th, beating Yoshitaki Hori from Japan 42.5 to 42.8 in the 18th pair. Hodt ended his active career in 1960, by then almost 41-years-old, and immediately entered a new career as an administrator, coach, team leader, and referee for speed skating.

Hodt was a coach at the 1964 Winter Olympics and team leader at the 1980, 1992 and 1994 Games. He coached successful Olympic skaters such as Olympic medalists Fred A. Maier, Roar Grønvold, and Sten Stensen. Hodt was chairman of Drammens SK for several periods, and chairman of the Norwegian Skating Union’s Speed Skating Committee from 1965-67 and from 1972-73. In 1992 he was awarded the Golden Token, the highest award of the Union.

In the 1950s Hodt built up his own company and was a successful businessman, specializing in concrete building elements. Before his 1986 retirement he sold his company to a large Norwegian construction firm.

Personal Bests: 500 – 42.3 (1940); 1500 – 2:17.0 (1956); 5000 – 8:31.7 (1954); 10000 – 17:36.8 (1954).