Greta Johansson was a Swedish swimmer and diver who represented Stockholms KK. Johansson grew up in Kungsholmen, Stockholm in poor conditions. At the 1912 Stockholm Olympics Johansson swam in the 100 metres freestyle and the 4 × 100 metres freestyle relay finishing in fourth place in the latter. It was in diving, however, that Johansson excelled, winning the gold medal in the high dive event. She became the first Swedish woman to win gold at the 1912 Games.
A year after the Olympics Johansson emigrated to the United States where she worked as an office assistant for a newspaper company. While in America Johansson married Ernst Brandsten, who had also dived for Sweden at the Stockholm Olympics. Both of them trained divers at Stanford University. They were both inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame, Johansson as a diver and Brandsten as a coach. In 2016 Johansson was the subject of the Swedish film “Guld-Greta – en hisnande kärlekshistoria”.
Sweden