Lennarth Pettersson

Brigadier General Ingvar Lennart Pettersson (born 1 February 1951) is a retired Swedish Air Force officer and former modern pentathlete. He competed at the 1980 Summer Olympics, winning a bronze medal in the team event.

Early life Pettersson was born on 1 February 1951 in Uppsala, Sweden, the son of Ingvar Pettersson and his wife May (née Svanberg). He grew up in Knivsta in Uppland. During his school days, Pettersson got the opportunity to do a work life orientation at Uppland Wing (F 16) in Uppsala after the father of one of his friends worked at the wing and arranged a place for him. Pettersson was good at most sports, but his physical education teacher encouraged him to focus on modern pentathlon. In 1967, he applied for flight training in Ljungbyhed and got accepted. Pettersson was 16 years old when, on Sunday, 28 January 1968, he got on the train in Knivsta to go to Ljungbyhed to enroll at the Swedish Air Force Flying School.

Sports career Pettersson is three time Swedish champion in modern pentathlon. He competed as a modern pentathlete at the 1980 Summer Olympics, winning a bronze medal in the team event. He was not selected for the 1984 Summer Olympics and he then decided to stop being an active modern pentathlete. Pettersson was the head coach of the Swedish national team in modern pentathlon from 1992 to 1996. After a few years' break, in 2000 he was elected chairman of the modern pentathlon in Sweden. The following year, he was elected a board member of the Swedish Olympic Committee.

Personal life In 1964, Pettersson married Jane Pettersson (born 1952), the daughter of Per-Elon and Marianne Pettersson.