Peter Tallberg was Olympic, president of the IYRU and a prominent member of the CIO.

Peter Tallberg (1937 / 2015) was a member of the CIO since 1976, and therefore, after Vitaly Smirnov, its oldest member. For many years it was the voice of the athletes as president of their athletes' commission, from its creation in 1981 to the year 2002, when it became an honorary member.

His long service sheet reflects that he has participated in various CIO commissions, including the coordination with the Barcelona JJOO 1992, and the survey or pre-trial of those in Atlanta 96, Sydney 2000, Athens 2004 and the coordination for the London JJOO 2012; he was also the Commissioner of the CIO Pavilion at Expo 92 in Seville.

His connection to sport comes from his family. The Tallberg have competed in the JJOO for three generations and continued to represent Finland in the Olympic sailing competitions. Of all of them, Peter is best known not only for being a member of the CIO, but for his career as a sportsman and a sports leader, highlighting his stage as President of the IYRU for eight years (1986- 1994). The Olympic trajectory of the Tallberg is centenary as it dates back to the dawn of modern Olympism when his grandfather Bertil and his uncle Gunard competed in the 1912 Stockholm JJOO winning the bronze medal with "Lucky Girl 1" in the 8-meter sailing class.

Peter Tallberg and his son Mathias in Moscow 80.

In Rome 1960, Peter took the family relay starting his long cycle of six consecutive games in which he competed as a sportsman in five and in others, Montreal 1976, he was the head of the Finnish sailing team. His last games were in Moscow 1980 where he lived, as he has commented many times, his best experience as the flag of the Finnish team.

The funny thing about the case is that, on the different Olympic dates that Peter took part in, he did it with two brothers of his, and even, also, he got to do it with his son of a crew. Let's go for parts. In Rome 1960, Tallberg competed in the 5.5m class, finishing in the 15th; four years later in Tochio 1964 he did so in the Star class with his brother Henrick achieving his best ranking with a fourth place staying on bronze doors. In his third games Peter repeated in the Star class and also with Henrick as a crew member leaving this time eleventh. In Munich 72 I pass to the Soling class sharing a team with his other brother, Johan, classifying himself as a dozen. In his fifth games, in Montreal 76, Peter Tallberg did not compete but was responsible for the Finnish sailing team that participated in four classes without achieving good results. Finally in 1980 already at age 43, Peter Tallberg in his last games returned to the Star class, in which I finished eleventh, living the exceptional experience of competing with his 20-year-old son Mathias who was part of the crew. In these games a sixth Tallberg, Georg, Peter's cousin, won the bronze medal in class 470. The latter's wife, Anna Marita Slunga Tallberg, took part in the 470 class races in the Barcelona 92 JJOO.

Text: Juan Manuel Surroco
Blog: http: / / elmargadordejmsurroca.blogspot.com
Twitter: @ SurrocaJM