Sverre Helgesen

Helgesen was born in Bodø.^[2] He represented the sports club Bodø og Omegns IF, then IK Tjalve after moving to Oslo. When Norwegian athletics was split in a bourgeois camp and a Workers' Confederation of Sports, Helgesen eventually chose to move to the workers' club IF Rollo.^[3]

His personal best jump was 1.91 metres (6 ft 3 in), achieved in September 1925 in Moss.^[4] This was a Norwegian record at the time.^[3] At the 1924 Summer Olympics he finished eighth in the high jump final with a jump of 1.83 metres (6 ft 0 in).^[2] He became Norwegian champion in 1926 with a tied championship record of 1.90 metres (6 ft 3 in). He also won national silver medals in 1924 and 1925.^[5] In the standing high jump he won a bronze medal in 1923, silver in 1928 and gold in 1924, 1925, 1926 and 1927.^[6] After joining the workers' movement he won the high jump at the 1928 Spartakiad.^[3]

Helgesen finished second behind Jack Higginson in the triple jump event at the British 1926 AAA Championships.^[7][8][9]

Besides active sports he was sports editor of Arbeiderbladet from 1928 to 1973.^[3] He was a board member of the Norwegian Athletics Association from 1945 through 1948.^[10] He was also a jury member for awarding the Egebergs Ærespris.^[11]