Josef STALDER

Sepp Stalder competed in two Olympics and won a total of seven medals making him the athlete with the third most medals won for Switzerland and still the Swiss athlete with the most medals won after World War II. He won one Olympic gold, in 1948 on high bar. He also competed in two World Championships winning gold on floor, pommelled horse, and with the team as well as bronze on the horizontal bar in 1950 and silver on pommelled horse and horizontal bar as well as bronze with the team in 1954.

At the national level Stalder won six Swiss all-around titles in 1942, 1948-49, and 1952-54 and became 1952 Swiss Sportsman of the Year. The Stalder-Grätsche (Stalder Shoot) is named after him as is a sports hall in Luzern, the Sepp Stalder Halle. In 1978 North Korea issued a stamp with his portrait. Stalder married Verena Fuchs in 1944 and later worked as warden for the Canton Luzern. He never lost his interest in gymnastics and wrote several articles in magazines about the sport.