Axel Frank

Axel Frank was born in Malmö and represented the local club IK Sparta. For a few years, he lived in Boston, USA, where he joined the club Swedish GAU. He was already 26 years old when he competed in his first major international event, the middleweight division of the 1908 Olympics. There, he was eliminated in the quarterfinals, when he was shouldered by Jóhannes Jósefsson from Iceland after 2:30 min. In the following year, he placed 3rd in the 75 kg class of the unofficial European Championship before winning his only medal at national championships as runner-up in the light-heavyweight in 1910.

His greatest success came in 1911 when he won the title at the unofficial World Championships in Berlin of the 70 kg division. Although competing with high hopes at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, he was eliminated in the middleweight A class after one victory and two defeats including the bout against Emil Westerlund from Finland, when both were disqualified for passivity after one hour of wrestling.