Aleksander Klumberg

Life and work

The story behind the role.

Estonian athletics competitor, coach and sportsperson (1899-1958).

Aleksander Klumberg (since 1936 Kolmpere; 17 April 1899 – 10 February 1958) was an Estonian decathlete. He represented Estonia in several events at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, and won the bronze medal in the decathlon at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. In 1922, he became the first official world record holder in the decathlon. Arrested by the Soviet occupation authorities during World War II, Klumberg was deported from Estonia, imprisoned in a Russian Gulag camp from 1945 to 1954, and deported to Siberia in 1954–1955. Klumberg took up athletics around 1912 and, already in 1915–1917, set multiple records of the then Russian Empire in several jumping and throwing events. Besides athletics he won three Estonian titles in bandy. In 1918–1919, he fought in the Estonian War of Independence as a volunteer. After that he worked as a physical education instructor with the Estonian army (1919–20), military schools (1924–1926) and police schools (1927 and 1942–1944). Klumberg represented Estonia in several track and field events at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp. At the British 1922 AAA Championships he finished third behind Vilho Niittymaa in the discus, third behind Paavo Johansson in the javelin and third behind Vilho Tuulos in the triple jump event. In 1922, he became the first official world record holder in the decathlon (although with a performance inferior to the 1912 Olympics series of Jim Thorpe). Klumberg won the bronze medal in the decathlon at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. Klumberg coached the national athletics teams of Poland (1927–1932) and Estonia, and in this capacity attended the 1928, 1932 and 1936 Summer Olympics. Klumberg was the coach of Janusz Kusociński when the Polish athlete won gold in the 10,000 meters event at the 1932 Summer…

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