Thorild Olsson

Thorild Olsson (26 November 1886 – 19 March 1934) was a Swedish runner who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm. He helped the Swedes win Silver in the men's 3000 m teams race. Each team consisted of 5 runners starting simultaneously, but only the placings of the first 3 in each team counted. The final consisted of teams from the US, Sweden and Great Britain. USA won the event with places 1, 3 and 5 while the Swedes, with Thorild Olsson 2nd, Ernst Wide 4th and Bror Fock 7th, took silver. Olsson's time of 8:44.6 would have been a world record before the 1912 games. (Translated from Swedish by his grandson, who has seen photos of him finishing second.)