Sport: Fencing Inducted: 1986 Country: Denmark Born: December 16, 1888 in Copenhagen,
Denmark Died: September 1965
One of few
athletes to receive the Olympic Diploma of Merit, Ivan Osiier
represented his country in seven Olympic Games
between 1908 and 1948. He missed only the 1936 Games, when
he refused to participate in Berlin as a protest against
the Nazis. He has participated in more Olympiads than any
other athlete.
Osiier won his only Olympic medal in 1912, a silver in Individual
Epee, at the Stockholm Games.
Dr. Osiier won a total of 25 Danish National Championships
in all three fencing weapons—foil, epee, and sabre. He
was also Scandinavian Foil titleholder in 1920, 1921, 1923,
1927, 1929, and 1931; he was Epee Champion in 1920; and
he was Sabre Champin in 1921, 1923, 1927, 1929, 1931,
and 1933.
Osiier began his athletic career as an oarsman and achieved
considerable renown in the sport before he turned to fencing.
He was a longtime head of the Denmark Fencing Federation.