Bertil Haase

Bertil Haase

Personal information
Born	(1923-06-05)5 June 1923 Uppsala, Sweden
Died	7 July 2014(2014-07-07) (aged 91)[1]
Sport
Sport	Modern pentathlon
Medal record Mens' modern pentathlon Competitor for  Sweden Olympic Games Bronze 1948 St. Moritz Winter Pentathlon

Bertil Robert Herman Haase Vidarsson (5 June 1923 – 7 July 2014) was a Swedish modern pentathlete. He competed at both Olympic Winter and Summer Games. He was born in Uppsala.

Hasse joined the Swedish Army as a volunteer and attended military school as a Furir (Private First Class), where he went on to intensify his sporting activities. He later quit the army as a Kapten. Together with Claes Egnell, Willie Grut and Gustaf Lindh he competed in the 1948 Winter Olympics in the Winter Pentathlon.^[2] As an excellent skier, he won both the downhill and the 10 km cross country disciplines, but was not among the first in shooting, fencing and horse riding. He finished third overall and won the bronze medal. Fellow countrymen Lindh and Grut took the first and second place respectively.^[3]

Since the winter pentathlon would have no other appearances at the Olympic Games, Haase turned to the modern pentathlon. He was nominated for the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne and appeared in modern pentathlon.^[1] In the individual event, he finished seventeenth. In the team event Sweden was the favourite and Haase competed together with the individual Olympic champion, Lars Hall, and Björn Thofelt. In the initial horse riding event Thofelt had drawn the lot for a very peculiar horse and eventually suffered from a concussion, after he fell off twice with the saddle turning around the horse's back and had to withdraw. Due to his retirement the Swedish team was not ranked and Haase was denied the chance for a second Olympic medal.^[4][5]

Hasse was also successful at the World Championships. He secured the title in the team event in 1950 in Bern, Switzerland with Lars Hall and Thor Henning. In 1954 in Budapest he placed third with Åke Julin and Thofelt. Haase's home club was Studenternas Idrottsförening Stockholm. He completed an engineering study at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm with a focus on metallurgical and then worked in the metallurgical industry in Fagersta, where he resided until his death in July 2014.

References