Vivi-Anne Hultén

Vivi-Anne Hultén
Vivi-Anne Hultén in 1932
Personal information
Country represented	Sweden
Born	(1911-08-25)25 August 1911 Antwerp, Belgium
Died	15 January 2003(2003-01-15) (aged 91)
Skating club	Stockholms Allmänna Skridskoklubb
Medal record Representing  Sweden Figure skating: Ladies' singles Olympic Games 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Singles World Championships 1937 London Singles 1936 Paris Singles 1935 Vienna Singles 1933 Stockholm Singles European Championships 1932 Paris Singles 1930 Vienna Singles

Vivi-Anne Hultén (25 August 1911 – 15 January 2003) was a Swedish figure skater who competed in ladies' singles. She was the 1936 Olympic bronze medalist, a four-time World medalist, a two-time European bronze medalist, and a ten-time Swedish national champion.^[1][2]

Personal life

Vivi-Anne Hultén was born in Antwerp, Belgium. She was married twice, first to the American steel importer Nils Tholand.^[2] In 1942, she married Gene Theslof, a Finnish figure skater and gymnast,^[3] with whom she had a son of the same name.^[4] Gene and Vivi trained their son, Gene Theslof III, to become a leading adagio skater that toured with Holiday on Ice in USA during the 60's. Gene Theslof III is now a business executive in California. Hultén died at age 91, of heart failure in Corona del Mar, California, surviving her husband by 20 years.^[5] She was the grandmother of American professional soccer coach Nick Theslof. Nick Was a two time All American soccer player by age 16 and was the first American to be invited to Europe to train with PSV Eindhoven and their top youth team to become a future professional player. Nick later became an assistant soccer coach for Bayern Munich under Juergen Klinsmann.

Career

Hultén was coached by the brother of Gillis Grafström.^[3] She finished fifth at the 1932 Winter Olympics. In 1933, she finished second to Sonia Henie at the 1933 World Championships, held in Stockholm.^[3]

Hultén won the bronze medal at the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Swedish newspapers named her the country's all-time female athlete. A lake in Budapest has a statue of her performing a spiral.^[5]

After turning professional, Hultén toured with the Ice Follies, Ice Cycles, and Ice Capades. She formed an adagio pair with Gene Theslof, who had skated with Henie for seven years, and toured the United States and Europe with him. In the mid 1960s, she settled in the United States and opened a large skating school in St. Paul, Minnesota with Theslof.^[1]

Hultén was hired as a skating coach by Herb Brooks for his Minnesota North Stars hockey team. She performed for the King and Queen of Sweden and also skated in ten ice shows with Ice Capades in Minneapolis, Minnesota at age 80. She actively taught on the ice until age 86.

Results

References

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