Gunnar Larsson

Who is Gunnar Larsson?

Karl Gunnar Larsson is a former swimmer from Sweden. He won the 400 m individual medley event at the 1972 Summer Olympics by 0.002 seconds over American Tim McKee, breaking the Olympic record. This was the reason the rules were changed, and today swimming times are measured in hundredths of a second.

He also won the 200 m individual medley event at the same Olympic Games, setting the new world record. Two years earlier, Larsson received the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal due to his swimming at the 1970 European championships where he won three gold and one silver. A year later, 1973, Larsson won the 200 m individual medley at the first official FINA World Championships in Belgrade.

During his career, Larsson set three world and eight European records. Together with Arne Borg he is considered as Sweden's greatest swimmer of all time. In 1979, he was inducted in the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

Larsson retired from competitive swimming in 1973 and until 1980 worked as a swimming coach. Later he took miscellaneous jobs, mostly with McDonalds and the Swedish Swimming Federation; he also did one year of acting in 2003. Between 1974 and 2004 he worked as part-time swimming commentator with radio stations.