S. M. Jensen

Søren Jensen had the following finishes at major championships – 1905 World Championship: 80 kg Greco-Roman (1st); 1910 World Championship: 85 kg Greco-Roman (third); 1911 Unofficial World Championships (Berlin, Dresden): 85 kg Greco-Roman (fourth each); 1907 Unofficial European Championship: 85 kg Greco-Roman (2nd); 1911 Unofficial European Championship: 93 kg Greco-Roman (2nd), 1912 Unofficial European Championship: 82 kg Greco-Roman (2nd), 1913 Unofficial European Championship: 82 kg Greco-Roman (fourth). He also competed unseeded in the 1904 Unofficial World Championship 75 kg.

Jensen’s greatest achievements, however, came in Intercalated Games in 1906. He took two gold in the heavyweight and the all-around of the winners of the respective divisions. He competed in two more Olympics. In the 1908 heavyweight bronze medal fight against Hungarian Hugó Payr. In the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, he lost to future gold medal winner Yrjö Saarela and had to comfort himself with bronze. After more than three hours of wrestling in the open air, Jensen retired from exhaustion on a particularly hot day.

At national championships, he placed third in his first appearance in 1901 and won a total of eight golds in the heavyweight division (87 kg) in 1904-06 and 1910-14. He was a very versatile athlete who also practiced swimming and water polo, and he was a co-founder of the Poloklubben af 1908. Søren Marinus Jensen worked as a bicycle dealer, meter controller and farmhand.