Henry Petersen

For the American lawyer, see Henry E. Petersen. For similar names, see Henry Peterson.

Henry Petersen (1 October 1900 – 24 September 1949) was a Danish athlete, who competed in the pole vault at the 1920 and 1924 Olympics and won a silver medal in 1920, placing fourth in 1924.^[3]

Henry Petersen

Petersen at the 1920 Olympics
Personal information
Born	1 October 1900 Ring, Horsens, Denmark
Died	24 September 1949 (aged 48) Copenhagen, Denmark
Sport
Sport	Athletics
Event	Pole vault
Club	KIF Copenhagen
Achievements and titles
Personal best	4.038 (1925)[1][2]
Medal record Representing  Denmark Olympic Games 1920 Antwerp Pole vault World Student Games 1923 Paris Pole vault

Career

Petersen won the Danish national pole vault title in 1920–21, 1923 and 1925–27 and improved the national record eight times from 3.69 m in 1919 to 4.03 m in 1925. He also held three national titles in the 4 × 100 m sprint relay (1919–20 and 1922) and five in team gymnastics events (between 1921 and 1927).

Petersen finished second behind Georg Högström in the pole jump event at the British 1919 AAA Championships.^[4][5] He finished second behind Henry Lindblad in the pole jump event at the 1927 AAA Championships.^[6][7][8]

He retired from sport shortly before the 1928 Olympics due to tuberculosis. He was an engineer by profession.^[1]