Sports Physician - Athlete 1912

1912

Norwegian Thorstein Guthe (1912-1994) competed in the team foil and individual épée at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. After studying Bacteriology in London and Paris, he graduated in 1939 in Medicine at the University of Oslo. He left for the United States to specialize in Internal Medicine  at the University of Minnesota. During the Second World War he was the head physician in Little Norway, the training camp of the Norwegian army in Canada. One year later, he moved to New York where he worked at the Health Ofiice for Seafarers until 1943. He the, worked at the Norwegian embassy in New York and after the war specialized at the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. In 1947 he became a consultant for the United Nations and from 1948 to 1956 he was a physician for the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva. In 1956 he was promoted to chief physician in the department of venereal diseases and in 1963 he became director of infectious diseases in the WHO. In 1971 he switched to the private sector where he became medical director of Elkem, a company that was mainly known for the production of silicones.

1912

Max Westerkamp (1912-1970) won the bronze medal with the Dutch hockey team at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. In the Dutch league he played left back at ‘Haagsche Delftsche Mix’. After he graduated, he established himself as a general practitioner.