Walter Jakobsson

Walter Jakobsson
Ludowika and Walter Jakobsson
Born(1882-02-06)6 February 1882
Helsinki, Finland
Died10 June 1957(1957-06-10) (aged 75)
Zurich, Switzerland
Figure skating career
Country Finland
Retired1928
Medal record
Representing  Finland
Olympic Games
1924 ChamonixPairs
1920 AntwerpPairs
World Championships
1923 OsloPairs
1922 DavosPairs
1914 St. MoritzPairs
1913 StockholmPairs
1912 ManchesterPairs
1911 ViennaPairs
1910 BerlinPairs

Walter Andreas Jakobsson (6 February 1882 – 10 June 1957) was a Finnish figure skater, and the oldest figure skating Olympic champion (at age 38). As a single skater, he won the Finnish national championship in 1910 and 1911. In 1910, he partnered with German figure skater Ludowika Eilers. As pairs skaters, they won the World Championship in 1911, 1914, and 1923, and the Olympic gold in 1920. They finished second at the 1924 Olympics and fifth in 1928.

Jakobsson studied engineering in Berlin, where he met Eilers in 1907. They married in 1911, and in 1916 moved to Helsinki, where Jakobsson got a job of the technical director of Kone OY (now Konecranes), a leading manufacturers of cranes. He held that post until retiring in 1947. He was also an amateur photographer and member of the Fotografiamatörklubben i Helsingfors (Helsinki Amateur photography Club). His specialty was dark city scenes with special light effects like rain or mist.