William Bruhn-Möller

William Bruhn-Möller was a rower from Helsingborgs RK. Prior to the Games, the Helsinborg’s inriggers coxed four became a surprise Swedish Champion. The also competed in the subsequent Nordic Championships and were in the lead in the final, when a spectators’ boat crossed their course and they had to stop to avoid a collision.

Together with one of his club mates and three rowers from Malmö RK, Bruhn-Möller took part in the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm as part of the Roddklubben af 1912 team. In the inriggers coxed fours, the boat eliminated the two Norwegian boats in the first two rounds, but lost in the final against the Danish team from Nykjøbings paa Falster to win silver. All five team members also rowed in the eights. In this event the team of the Roddklubben af 1912 lost to the eventual silver medallists from the New College, Oxford in the quarter-final.

Bruhn-Möller had criticized the Swedish management’s decision to let the four crew also compete in the eight, probably for economic reasons. After the narrow defeat in the eights they were lacking the stamina to beat the Danes in the inriggers final.

William Bruhn-Möller worked as a warehouse bookkeeper and later became manager. He was married to Ester Arvida Persson and had one son and one daughter. After graduating from school, Bruhn-Möller studied in Germany, England and France from 1912-14. After serving as a volunteer in the French Red Cross in 1914, he worked for the department store chain Nordiska Kompaniet in Stockholm. There, he became a manager in 1929. In 1939, he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Patriotic Society.