The Fearnley Olympic Award (Fearnleys olympiske ærespris) is a Norwegian Athletics Award. The award is given for outstanding achievements by a Norwegian Olympic participant. No competitor may win the award more than once. In 2021, it was decided that the prize would also be awarded for achievements at the Paralympics. [1]
The award was initiated by Norwegian ship owner Thomas Fearnley (1880–1961) in connection with the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo. Thomas Fearnley was a member of the International Olympic Committee from 1927 until 1948 and an honorary member from 1948 until 1950. [2]
The Fearnley Olympic Award includes a statue in bronze by sculptor Per Palle Storm (1910–1994). It is modeled after the Discobolus of Myron, the Hellenic statue dating from ca. 460–450 BC. [3] [4]
The Fearnley Olympic Award has been awarded for every Olympic Games since 1952, with the exception of the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo (where no medals were awarded to Norway) and the 1980 Summer Olympic Games at Moscow (which was boycotted by Norway and other countries). The first prizes went to speed skater Hjalmar Andersen (1923–2013) at the 1952 Winter Olympics at Oslo and to shooter Erling Kongshaug (1915–1993), who won a very close competition in the 1952 Summer Olympic Games at Helsinki. [5] [6] [7] [8]
In 1991, the prize was awarded to Norwegian sports official Arne Mollén (1913–2000). Mollén was the president of the Norwegian Athletics Association from 1953 to 1955, vice chairman of the Norwegian Olympic Committee )Norges idrettsforbund) 1965 to 1969 and chairman from 1969 to 1985. Mollén is so far the only person to have received the award other than for participation in an Olympic event. The award extended to Mollén was also the only one made outside of Olympic years. [9] [10]