Vivi-Anne Hultén

Vivi-Anne Hultén

Vivi-Anne Hultén in 1932
Personal information
Country represented Sweden
Born 25 August 1911
Antwerp, Belgium
Died 15 January 2003 (aged 91)
Skating club Stockholms Allmänna Skridskoklubb

Vivi-Anne Hultén (25 August 1911 – 15 January 2003) was a Swedish figure skater who competed in ladies' singles. She was the 1936 Olympic bronze medalist, a four-time World medalist, a two-time European bronze medalist, and a ten-time Swedish national champion.

Personal life

Vivi-Anne Hultén was born in Antwerp, Belgium. In 1942, she married Gene Theslof, a Finnish figure skater and weightlifter,[1] with whom she had a son of the same name.[2] Hultén died on 15 January 2003 at age 91 of heart failure in Corona del Mar, California.[3] She was the grandmother of American soccer coach Nick Theslof.

Career

Hultén was coached by the brother of Gillis Grafström.[1] She finished fifth at the 1932 Winter Olympics. In 1933, she finished second to Sonia Henie at the 1933 World Championships, held in Stockholm.[1]

Hultén won the bronze medal at the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Swedish newspapers named her the country's all-time female athlete. A lake in Budapest has a statue of her performing a spiral.[3]

After turning professional, Hultén toured with the Ice Follies, Ice Cycles, and Ice Capades. She formed an adagio pair with Gene Theslof, who had skated with Henie for seven years, and toured the United States and Europe with him. In the mid 1960s, she settled in the United States and opened a large skating school in St. Paul, Minnesota with Theslof.

Hultén was hired as a skating coach by Herb Brooks for his Minnesota North Stars hockey team. She performed for the King and Queen of Sweden and also skated in ten ice shows with Ice Capades in Minneapolis, Minnesota at age 80. She actively taught on the ice until age 86.

Results

International
Event 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937
Winter Olympics 5th 3rd
World Champ. 5th 5th 2nd 4th 3rd 3rd 3rd
European Champ. 3rd 4th 3rd
National
Swedish Champ. 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Bird, Dennis (29 January 2003). "Obituary: Vivi-Anne Hulten". The Independent. Archived from the original on 10 December 2010.
  2. "Vivi-Anne Hulten, 91, Swedish Skater". The New York Times. 25 January 2003.
  3. 3.0 3.1 McLellan, Dennis (24 January 2003). "V. Hulten, 91; Top Figure Skater in Sweden Had Feud With Rival Henie". The Los Angeles Times.