Some of the most epic moments in Swedish combat sports history!

2. Swedish wrestlers wins 10 Olympic medals, 1932

Ivar Johansson. Picture by IOC

It’s a well kept secret that wrestling is the Olympic sport where Swedish athletes found most success over the years. 28 (!) Olympic gold medals has so far gone to yellow-blue wrestlers.

Most of these medals were won in earlier decades of the 20th century, and it’s particularly one year that stands out as the highlight of this nation’s wrestling history.

Under the red-hot California sun at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, the Swedish wrestlers pulled off one of the absolute biggest achievements in the history of Swedish combat sports – or any sport for that matter – as they won no fewer than ten medals.

And wrestling stand-out Ivar Johansson became the first wrestler to ever win two gold medals at the same Olympic games.

He first won gold in freestyle wrestling, as a middleweight. Then Johansson skipped the medal ceremony to drop weight in the sauna, and the day after, he won his second gold in Greco-Roman wrestling, at welterweight.