Gunnar Ericsson, honourary President of the ITU, recently celebrated his 90th birthday with his friends and family in the south of Sweden where he resides.

Good friend and ITU Executive Board Member Ria Nilsson was in attendance and passed on our best wishes to Gunnar.

At 90 years old Gunnar is very engaged and clear in his head and still takes great interest in staying up to date with everything that happens in the IOC and triathlon families. He reminisced about his happy times with ITU, working together with Les McDonald to establish triathlon within the Olympic prorgamme and the foundation of ITU in Avignon in 1989.

The recent results of his compatriot Lisa Norden have not gone unnoticed, and Ericsson expressed his joy at seeing the up and coming Swede having such a great year on the Dextro Energy Triathlon - ITU World Championship Series.

Although he is not able to make it to the Gold Coast Grand Final, he sends everyone his very best and looks forward to hearing more about the development of the sport and governing body he helped to found.

ITU Secretary General, Loreen Barnett said:
“We can not over-emphasize the role that Gunnar played in establishing our sport within the Olympic Movement. It was his dream that every community would one day have “their” triathlon venue. We should also work closely together with our friends at the Swedish Triathlon Federation to bring a big international triathlon race to the country to go alongside Lisa Norden, their new international star.”