Gert Fredriksson

With eight medals (six gold, one silver, one bronze) between 1948 and 1960, Sweden’s Gert Fredriksson is the most successful canoeist in Olympic history. He was at his best in the K1-1,000 metres, winning a gold medal at three successive Games (1948-1956) and in the K1-10,000 metres, in which he won two gold medals (1948, 1956) and a silver (1952). He is one of only 13 Olympians to have won gold medals at four or more consecutive Olympic Games. At the World Championships he won four individual titles – K1-500 in 1948 and 1954, and K1-1,000 in 1950 and 1954, and a further three in the relay. Between 1942 and his retirement in 1964, Fredriksson won 71 national championships. In 1956, Fredriksson was awarded the Mohammed Taher Trophy by the IOC, for his contributions to the sport of canoeing.