Machine-translated from Faroese and not yet reviewed. Read the original.
On Thursday and Friday we said our final farewells to two great sporting role models. In one fateful moment in the morning sun on Sunday 21 July, an accident happened that will mark many people for the rest of their lives. The badminton officials Vilhjálmur Gregoriussen and Høgni Carlsson were in a taxi on their way home from the Island Games in Bermuda. They were heading for Tórshavn, where a reception was to be held at the ÍSF building for the whole badminton party, to honour their good results at the Island Games.
But fate caught up with them. On the way down from Sandavágsháls the taxi went off the road at high speed. A terrible accident had happened. Vilhjálmur, Høgni and the driver, Hans Mortensen, all lost their lives. The Island Games had become games of mourning, and in Tórshavn a thick fog settled like a cold, numbing blanket over a grieving town. It was as if nature itself was mourning with all of us.
Despite their young age, both had been well-known names in sport for decades. As early as the beginning of the 1980s we heard of a new generation in table tennis, led by the Carlsson brothers. Høgni and his brother Birgir were among the very best in Faroese table tennis for many years. Høgni later married the badminton player Bjørg Djurhuus, and it was in badminton that Høgni went on to work. Their daughters are the two talented players Brynhild and Rannvá Carlsson, who today sit firmly on the Faroese badminton throne, and they have had incredibly loyal support in their father.
Vilhjálmur was both an HB man and a Kyndil man, but it is above all in rowing that he made his name in sport. He rowed both with Ørvur and with Havnarbáturin, with which he also became Faroese champion. Vilhjálmur spent a lot of time at sea, but that did not stop him being a rower. He was always ready to lend a helping hand when he came home, and more often than not he ended up with an oar in his hand at the regattas too. Vilhjálmur also loved running, and often did well in the first Flag Day runs, held before running in the Faroes really took off. In recent years Vilhjálmur had also been chair of the badminton federation and therefore also a board member of ÍSF.
Today, in connection with the Ólavsøka Run, a minute’s silence was held in memory of Vilhjálmur and Høgni, and in the race itself all the runners wore black armbands. During the Ólavsøka procession tomorrow, all the sportspeople will also wear black armbands.
With these humble words, Frælsur Ítróttur Føroya (FÍF), the Faroese athletics federation, wishes to remember and honour Vilhjálmur Gregoriussen and Høgni Carlsson.
Mogens, Høgni and Vilhjálmur celebrating the good results at the Island Games in Bermuda.
