In his youth, Hans Gerschwiler was fortunate enough to have two professional figure skaters and coaches at his disposal: his uncles Arnold and Jacques Gerschwiler. While living in Great Britain, Arnold had trained, among others, Olympians Cecilia Colledge, Sjoukje Dijkstra, Ede Király , László and Marianna Nagy, Megan Taylor, and Ája Vrzáňová, while Jacques was responsible for Colledge and Jeannette Altwegg. Hans got his start with Arnold in Switzerland and won the singles category at the 1938 and 1939 national championships, in addition to coming in fifth at the 1939 European Championships. By the outbreak of World War II he was living in England with Jacques and spent the conflict working in a factory, rarely able to train.
Gerschwiler returned in full force after the war, however, and won the Swiss national championships in 1946, 1947, and 1948. In 1947 he was also European and World champion, while in 1948 he was runner-up in both of those tournaments, as well as the Winter Olympics. Each of these times he lost to the great American Dick Button, even at the European Championships, which became closed to Canada and the United States the following year. This was irrelevant to Gerschwiler, however, who turned professional after the 1948 Games. He later moved to Canada, and then the United States, to work as a teacher and coach. He is one of only three Swiss Olympic medalists in figure skating (along with Georges Gautschi, bronze in 1924, and Stéphane Lambiel, silver in 2006, both in the singles) and one of only two males (the other being Lambiel) to earn the title of world champion.
Switzerland