Five Star All Rounder

Willie Grut

 Olympics Photo Quiz 9 

 Background 

Debates about who is the greatest Olympic athlete of all time are undoubtedly great fun, giving as they do the opportunity to savour the achievements of dozens of worthy candidates for the accolade. However they are ultimately futile as it's impossible to compare the accomplishments of people from different eras who competed in very different sports and circumstances. Additionally, attention in such discussions invariably centres on those who had the platform of the more popular glamour sports at the Games. One name rarely if ever mentioned in such debates, possibly because it scarcely rolls of the tongue, is Swedish athlete Willy Oscar Guernsey Grut. Yet his Olympic activities and achievements, are well worth remembering and saluting. His Olympic connections began even before he was born, as his father Torben was the architect of the stadium at the centre of the Stockholm Olympics in 1912. He kicked off his own Olympic account by swimming at the 1936 Berlin Olympics where he saw Gottard Handwick win the modern pentathlon for Germany. 

Early Swedish Domination

Until then this event had been won at previous Olympics exclusively by Swedes, and Grut vowed that he would train in it's five disciplines to retake the gold in it for Sweden at the next Olympics. As an officer in the Swedish army he was well placed to devote himself to the fencing, shooting, cross country running, horse riding and swimming that combine to form the modern pentathlon. He had to wait over a decade to get his chance to put all his training to the test as the second world war intervened to force the cancellation of the 1940 and 1944 Games. In 1948 he prepared for that year's London summer Olympics by entering the winter pentathlon at the St Moritz winter Olympics. This event replaced the cross country running and swimming components with downhill and cross country skiing. He scooped the silver medal in this winter warm up and went on to win the modern pentathlon gold at the London Games by setting a new Olympic record. Having achieved his goal, Grut turned his hand to coaching, training amongst others Lars Hall who then went on to win gold in the pentathlon at both the Helsinki 1952 and Melbourne 1956 Olympics. 

Olympic Modern Pentathlon

While the men's event was introduced at the 1912 Stockholm Games, the women's modern pentathlon did not feature at the Olympics until the Sydney Games of 2000.  

London 2012 Comment

With only a minor change to it's rubric, which has seen the shooting and running elements combined in an unusual fashion, the modern pentathlon staged at the London 2012 Olympics will essentially be the same event won by Grut, Hall and the other Swedish champions of yesteryear. Highly Questionable is tipping the Czech David Svoboda, who is the current world champion, to win gold in the modern pentathlon at the 2012 London Games, and Germany's Lena Schonebora to take the top spot in the women's event, so repeating her triumph at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.             

 Olympics Photo Quiz 9 

What type of sword is used in the fencing component of the modern pentathlon? 

The Answer will be published along with the next Highly Questionable quiz and associated blog post.

 Olympics Photo Quiz 8 Answer 

Italian was the nationality of the fencing brothers Aldo and Nedo Nadi who between them took eight gold fencing medals at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics.

The author of the Highly Questionable? quiz and trivia blog, Harry Reid, is a freelance question setter, writer and blogger. He can be contacted at harryreid@btinternet.com