Hjalmar Johannessen was a Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 athlete who specialized in the 400

400 metres

The 400 metres, or 400 metre dash, is a common sprinting event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 . On a standard outdoor running track, it is exactly one lap around the track. Runners start in staggered positions and...

 and 800 metres

800 metres

The 800 meter race is a common track running event. It is the shortest common middle distance track event. The 800 meter is run over two laps of the track and has always been an Olympic event. During indoor track season the event is usually run on a 200 meter track, therefore requiring four laps...

.

At the 1932 Summer Olympics

1932 Summer Olympics

The 1932 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the X Olympiad, was a major world wide multi-athletic event which was celebrated in 1932 in Los Angeles, California, United States. No other cities made a bid to host these Olympics. Held during the worldwide Great Depression, many nations...

 he reached the heats in the 800 metres, where he failed to progress with a time of 1:54.3 minutes, and also the quarterfinal in the 400 metres, where he achieved 49.4 seconds. At the 1936 Summer Olympics

1936 Summer Olympics

The 1936 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was held in 1936 in Berlin, Germany. Berlin won the bid to host the Games over Barcelona, Spain on April 26, 1931, at the 29th IOC Session in Barcelona...

 he reached the semifinal of the 800 metres, where he clocked in 1:56.0 minutes. He became Norwegian 400 metres champion in 1928, 1929, 1930, 1931 and 1935, and 800 metres champion in 1928, 1929, 1931, 1933, 1936 and 1937. He represented the clubs SK Freidig

SK Freidig

Sportsklubben Freidig is a Norwegian sports club from Trondheim.It was founded in 1903. It has sections for association football, team handball, orienteering and Nordic skiing. In football it won the League of Norway 1947–48, in handball the league in 1971 and 1985. The club has also won several...

 and Oslo TF.

His personal best time was 1:52.1 minutes, achieved in September 1935 in Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

. In the 400 metres he had 48.6 seconds, achieved in September 1935 at Bislett stadion

Bislett stadion

Bislett Stadion is a sports stadium in Oslo, Norway. Bislett is Norway's most well known sports arena internationally, with 15 speed skating world records and more than 50 track and field world records having been set here...

.

After retiring he was a sports editor in the newspaper Morgenposten

Morgenposten

Morgenposten is a former Norwegian newspaper, issued in Oslo from 1861 to 1971. It was the largest newspaper in Norway from the 1870s until the early 1900s, when its name was Christiania Nyheds- og Avertissements-Blad, also nicknamed Sværta....

. He died in 1959.