Johan Harmenberg
Encyclopedia
Johan Harmenberg is a Swedish epee fencer. Harmenberg completed two years of study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
in 1979, leaving his course early (he would have graduated in 1981) before returning to Sweden to pursue his fencing career.
s at Olympic
, World Championship, and World Cup competitions.
.
He also won a bronze medal in Team Épée at the 1979 World Championships in Hamburg
.
in the Individual Épée. In three of the final matches he won by only one touch. He is the only Swede to have won an individual gold medal in fencing. Harmenberg was a member of the Swedish épée team as well; the team placed 5th in the team épée competition.
in 1997.
Harmenberg has since had a distinguished career in medical pharmacology
, publishing a variety of papers relating to viral immunology
. After stints as VP of pharmaceutical development at Medivir, Chief Medical officer at Algeta ASA, is currently (2008) CEO and Medical Director of Axelar AB in Stockholm, Sweden.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
in 1979, leaving his course early (he would have graduated in 1981) before returning to Sweden to pursue his fencing career.
Fencing career
He has won eight individual and/or team epee gold medalGold medal
A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...
s at Olympic
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
, World Championship, and World Cup competitions.
World Championships
He earned his World Championship titles in Individual Épée and Team Épée events at the 1977 competitions in Buenos AiresBuenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
.
He also won a bronze medal in Team Épée at the 1979 World Championships in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
.
World Cups
Harmenberg captured three Individual Épée World Cup Championships within four years: 1977 (Bern), 1979 (Heidenheim), and 1980 (Heidenheim). He also won team titles at the 1977 and 1980 World Cups.Olympics
At the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games, he won a gold medalGold medal
A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...
in the Individual Épée. In three of the final matches he won by only one touch. He is the only Swede to have won an individual gold medal in fencing. Harmenberg was a member of the Swedish épée team as well; the team placed 5th in the team épée competition.
Hall of Fame
Harmenberg, who is Jewish, was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of FameInternational Jewish Sports Hall of Fame
The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame was opened July 7, 1981, in Netanya, Israel. It honors Jewish athletes and their accomplishments from anywhere around the world....
in 1997.
Scholarship
Harmenberg co-authored scientific papers entitled "Fencing: Biomedical and Psychological Factors," "Comparison of different tests of fencing performance" (1991), and "Physiological and morphological characteristics of world class fencers" (1990).Harmenberg has since had a distinguished career in medical pharmacology
Pharmacology
Pharmacology is the branch of medicine and biology concerned with the study of drug action. More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur between a living organism and chemicals that affect normal or abnormal biochemical function...
, publishing a variety of papers relating to viral immunology
Immunology
Immunology is a broad branch of biomedical science that covers the study of all aspects of the immune system in all organisms. It deals with the physiological functioning of the immune system in states of both health and diseases; malfunctions of the immune system in immunological disorders ; the...
. After stints as VP of pharmaceutical development at Medivir, Chief Medical officer at Algeta ASA, is currently (2008) CEO and Medical Director of Axelar AB in Stockholm, Sweden.