Gunnar Lindström

In the 1920s Swedish track and field athlete Gunnar Lindström was one of the best javelin throwers in the world. During the decade Lindström won ten medals at the national championships, competed at three Olympic Games, and set a world record that stood for three years.

Lindström won his first Swedish title in the javelin in 1920 when the event used the combined distance with both hands. He retained his title in the two-handed throw in 1921, won another gold in 1924, and captured two more bronze medals in the event (1922, 1925). In the standard event using just the athlete’s best hand Lindström won three golds (1924, 1926–27) and three silvers (1925, 1928, 1932). In December 1924 he threw 66.62 metres to set a world record that would stand until October 1927.

At his first Olympic Games in 1920 in Antwerpen Lindström finished in sixth place with a best throw of 60.520 metres. Four years later at the Paris Olympics he won the silver medal with a throw of 60.92 metres. At his third and final Olympics in Amsterdam in 1928, Lindström finished in a disappointing 14th place after failing to advance from the qualifying round.

After retiring from athletics Lindström worked as an agricultural consultant and an agronomist. He later went on to own a farm just outside the southern city of Eksjö. His younger brother Elof was also a javelin thrower who competed at the Olympics.

Personal Best: JT – 67.77 (1928).