Bertil Haase

Bertil Robert Herman Haase Vidarsson (born June 5, 1923 in Uppsala) is a former Swedish modern pentathlete. He competed at both Olympic Winter and Summer Games.

Bertil Haase always was an enthusiastic all-round sportsman, being a good skier as well as a good swimmer and runner already at young ages.Telephone interview with Bertil Haase on September 2, 2008] He joined the Swedish Army as a volunteer and attended military school (Swedish: volontär–, konstapel– och furirskola) as a Furir (Private First Class), where he went on to intensify his sporting activities. He later quit the army as a Kapten.

Together with Claes Egnell, William Grut and Gustaf Lindh he competed in the 1948 Winter Olympics in the Winter Pentathlon. [ [http://www.lidenstidning.se/09_april_00/gustaf.shtml Guldolympier från Boda] (Swedish)] As an excellent skier, he won both the downhill and the 10 km cross country disciplines, but was not among the first in shooting, fencing and horse riding. He finished third overall and won the bronze medal. Fellow countrymen Lindh and Grut took the first and second place respectively. [ [http://www.aafla.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1948/ORW1948.pdf Rapport Général sur les V^es Jeux Olympiques d’hiver St-Moritz 1948] PDF, (French/German)]

Since the winter pentathlon would have no other appearance of its kind at Olympic Games, Haase turned to the modern pentathlon. He was a moderate shooter, but a good fencer, running and swimming were also well above average. He was nominated for the 1956 Summer Olympic Games in Melbourne and appeared in modern pentathlon. [Swedish Olympic Committee [http://www.sok.se/5.483c5f32108c2a2b3d180004218.html Portrait of Bertil Haase] ] In the individual event, he finished seventeenth. In the team event he competed together with the individual Olympic champion, Lars Hall, and Björn Thofelt, the threesome had taken the lead after three disciplines. Then in the horse riding event Thofelt had drawn the lot for a very peculiar horse and eventually suffered from a concussion, after he fell off twice with the saddle turning around the horse's back and had to withdraw. Because of his retirement the Swedish team was not ranked and Haase was denied a second olympic medal. [sports-reference.com [http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ha/bertil-haase-1.html Bertil Haase] ]

At world championships in modern pentathlon Haase was successful, too. He secured the title in the team event in 1950 in Bern, Switzerland together with Lars Hall and Thor Henning. 1954 in Budapest, he placed third with Åke Julin and again Björn Thofelt. He finished his career in 1957 and got married the very same year to his wife Ann Marie.

Haases home club was "Studenternas Idrottsförening Stockholm". He completed an engineering study at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm with a focus on metallurgical and then worked in the metallurgical industry in Fagersta, where he still resides.

In 1979 Bertil Haase as well as all Swedish participants in the winter pentathlon and many of the modern pentathletes from the 1950s contested at a senior pentathletes' competition in Budapest. As of 2008 he still is in contact with Hall, Grut, Lindh, Thofelt and Egnell.

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