Lasse Efskind

Lasse Daniel Efskind (born 1944) is a Norwegian medical doctor who is better known as a speedskater and author. The son of Leif Efskind, a professor of medicine at the University of Oslo and a pioneer of heart operations, he studied civil engineering and medicine while skating at close to national top level. In January 1973 at Davos he set three world records, on the 500 metres, the 1000 metres and the sprint combination, and he had placed twelfth in the 500 metres at the 1972 Winter Olympics. His 1970 book The Soldier's Little Red Book, on political organisation within the armed forces, led to a prosecution from which the Supreme Court acquitted him on grounds of freedom of speech. In medicine he is a co-author of a 1977 controlled clinical study of acetylsalicylic acid for preventing arterial thromboembolism in patients with aortic ball valves, and he has worked as a doctor during the El Salvador civil war and in Palestine.