GRAFSTRM, GILLIS

born June 7, 1893, Stockholm, Swed. died April 14, 1938, Potsdam, Ger. Swedish figure skater who won three Olympic gold medals and one silver. Considered one of the best skaters of compulsory figures ever, he was drawn to the sport's artistic precision rather than the challenges of competition. Grafstrm won his first gold medal at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium, despite competing with out-of-date, curly-toed skates that he purchased after he broke a skate. The Antwerp gold medal was followed by a gold in 1924 in Chamonix, France, and a gold in 1928 in St. Moritz, Switzerland, where he skated on a swollen knee. At the 1932 Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, U.S., a moment's confusion over which figure he was to trace left him with the silver medal, losing the gold to Austrian Karl Schfer. A skater who ignored most competitions but the Olympic Games, Grafstrm was known for his smooth elegance, his perfectly executed routines, and the graceful flow of his skating. He was the first to make the axel a controlled jump and originated the flying sit spin and the Grafstrm spin (executed on the back outside edge of the skate). He skated just three times for the world title (1922, 1924, and 1929) and won each time. Outside the skating world, Grafstrm was an architect who also indulged in poetry and painting. He was a perfectionist with high aesthetic standards, which he later applied as the coach of Norwegian skating legend Sonja Henie, a three-time Olympic gold medalist.