Erik August Larsson

Erik Larsson

Larsson at the 1936 Olympics
Personal information
Born	12 April 1912 Kurravaara, Sweden
Died	10 March 1982 (aged 69) Kiruna, Sweden
Height	163 cm (5 ft 4 in)
Weight	59 kg (130 lb)
Sport
Sport	Cross-country skiing
Club	IFK Kiruna
Medal record Representing  Sweden Olympic Games 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen 18 km 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen 4×10 km World Championships 1935 Vysoké Tatry 4×10 km

Erik August Larsson (12 April 1912 – 10 March 1982) was a Swedish cross-country skier who competed in the 1930s. He won two medals at the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen with a gold in the 18 km and a bronze in the 4×10 km. The same year he was awarded the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal. Larsson also won a bronze in the 4×10 km relay at the 1935 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships.

Larsson was born as the second youngest of six siblings in a religious Finnish-speaking family. In 1935, he started working as a cleaner at the Kiruna iron ore mine in the summer and as a lumberjack in the winter. In 1939, after attending a prayer meeting in Kurravaara he gave up his sport career and became a Laestadian Christian. He was later a preacher in the Firstborn Laestadian congregation in Kiruna. His son Lars became a preacher in Luleå, while his granddaughter Åsa Larsson was a tax lawyer and a writer of crime novels.