Vilhjálmur Einarsson

Biography

In Melbourne in 1956 the Icelander jumped 16.26 m and for a time held the Olympic record. Then the Brazilian Adhemar da Silva improved on it, and the gold went to him. Vilhjálmur’s silver was the most unexpected result of those Games, and for Iceland it was the first Olympic medal.

He was born in June 1934 and grew up in Reyðarfjörður, a fishing village in the east of Iceland, the son of Einar Stefánsson and Sigríður Vilhjálmsdóttir. Little is known about his childhood and early years. He studied at Dartmouth College in the United States.

In Melbourne he finished 9 cm behind the gold medallist. The bronze went to Vitold Kreyer, who competed for the Soviet Union.

Two years later, in 1958, at the European Championships in Stockholm, Vilhjálmur jumped 16.00 m and took the bronze medal. At the 1960 Games in Rome he placed fifth in the triple jump; in the qualifying round of the long jump he was eliminated. His best result came that same year at home: on 7 August 1960 at the Laugardalsvöllur stadium in Reykjavík he jumped 16.70 m. It is still the Icelandic record. He was named Icelandic Sportsperson of the Year several times, more often than anyone else. After he stopped competing he became an educator and headed three schools: the regional boarding school at Laugarvatn, the school at Reykholt and the secondary school at Egilsstaðir. At Egilsstaðir he later worked part time as a mathematics teacher. Alongside this he painted: his specialty was landscape, and his work was shown in several galleries in Iceland. I could not find details of exhibitions, dates or titles of paintings, so it is hard to judge his manner.

His son Einar Vilhjálmsson threw the javelin and competed at the Olympic Games of 1984, 1988 and 1992.

Vilhjálmur Einarsson died on 28 December 2019 in Reykjavík. Iceland’s only Olympic medal in men’s athletics is still his.