Åke Grönhagen

Åke Grönhagen was a fencer and modern pentathlete. While he was eliminated in the first round of the individual epée competition, he narrowly missed out a medal finishing fourth in the first edition of modern pentathlon at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. Grönhagen won the riding and fencing events but after a 10th place in the final running, he dropped from third to fourth place. Two years later, he won the modern pentathlon at the 1914 Baltic Games in Malmö.

Grönhagen, who attended the Central Gymnastics Institute in 1911-12 and the riding school in Strömsholm in 1915-16, was a well-known military athlete. He was later chairman of the Swedish Fencing Association from 1932-36 and 1940-42 and leader of the Swedish fencers at the Olympic Games in 1924 in Paris and in 1936 in Berlin. In 1924, Grönhagen also acted as a judge in the Olympic fencing tournament.

After graduating from school in 1905, he attended Krigshögskolan (Royal Swedish Army Staff College) and passed his officer’s exam in 1908. From second lieutenant in the fortifications, Grönhagen gradually rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel in 1937. In the same year he was appointed head of the Göta Engineering Corps. In 1940, he was transferred to the reserve as a colonel and became defence assistant at the office of the lieutenant governor and adjutant to King Gustaf V. Two years later, Grönhagen was promoted to chief adjutant. In 1941, he was appointed chief of air defence and in 1944, chief of civil defence in the Stockholm region. During this time, he was instrumental in setting up a school for air defence personnel.

Grönhagen married Ingrid Barthelson in 1915 and had five children, three sons and two daughters. He was made, amongst others, Commander of the Order of Vasa and Knight of the Order of the Sword in Sweden, Knight of the Order of Dannebrog in Denmark, and of the Order of the White Rose of Finland. He also received numerous awards for his activities as an athlete and sports official.