Ernst Brandsten

Ernst Brandsten was born as the son of a merchant in Karlskoga in the central part of Sweden. He went to the United States, where he first worked as a sailor charting the coast of Alaska. Brandsten then became a professional swimmer and exhibition diver from great heights. After returning to his homeland of Sweden, he won the Swedish championship in combined diving in 1912. In the same year, he competed in all three diving events at the Stockholm Olympics. While he failed to qualify for the final in springboard and platform diving, he placed seventh in the final of the plain diving.

Brandsten emigrated to the United States in 1913 and got married to Swedish immigrant and 1912 Olympic gold medallist Greta Johansson. He became a swimming instructor at Stanford University from 1916-47, where he produced a number of successful Olympians at the 1920 and 1924 Olympics. Subsequently, he was officially appointed American head coach for the 1928 and 1932 Olympic Games. In 1965, Brandsten was posthumously inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame as coach and “the father of American diving”.