Gillis Ahlberg

Gillis Ahlberg was cox of the Göteborgs RK’s eight team at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm. They lost in the heat against Sydney Rowing Club representing Australasia.

As a sports manager, he was a member of the board of the Swedish Rowing Federation from 1920 until his death, as secretary from 1921-1926 and as vice chairman from 1928. From 1929-30 Ahlberg was chairman of the Göteborgs RK organising the national championships for the first time. In other sports, Ahlberg was secretary for athletics at the Götenborg Games in 1923 and one of the organisers of the 1926 Women’s Olympics. He also initiated an international football tournament in Göteborg, organised the “Across Göteborg” city race for many years, the first extra trains for the Vasaloppet and Sonja Henie first show in Göteborg in figure skating. Moreover, Ahlberg was secretary of the Gothenburg District Sports Association from 1913-14 and a board member of the Sports Journalists’ Club from 1923.

The son of a sea captain, Ahlberg studied at the Private Technical School and the Chalmers Institute in Göteborg. He became a sports journalist at the Göteborgs-Posten newspaper at the age of seventeen. In 1914 he switched to Göteborgs-Tidningen and was department head at Göteborgs Handelstidnings AB publishers from 1923. Ahlberg married Greta Emilia Mühlenbock-Erlandsson in 1919 and had one son.