Erik Larsson (skier)
Erik Larsson at the 1936 Olympics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | 12 April 1912 Kurravaara, Sweden | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 10 March 1982 (aged 69) Kiruna, Sweden | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 163 cm (5 ft 4 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 59 kg (130 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Cross-country skiing | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | IFK Kiruna | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Erik August Larsson (12 April 1912 – 10 March 1982) was a Swedish cross-country skier who competed in the 1930s. He won two medals at the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen with a gold in the 18 km and a bronze in the 4 × 10 km relay. The same year he was awarded the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal. Larsson also won a bronze in the 4 × 10 km relay at the 1935 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships.
Larsson was born as the second youngest of six siblings in a religious Finnish-speaking family. In 1935, he started working as a cleaner at the Kiruna iron ore mine in the summer and as a lumberjack in the winter. In 1939, after attending a prayer meeting in Kurravaara he gave up his sport career and became a Laestadian Christian. He was later a preacher in the Firstborn Laestadian congregation in Kiruna. His son Lars became a preacher in Luleå, while his granddaughter Åsa Larsson was a tax lawyer and a writer of crime novels.