Hans Jorgens Jensen, 79; 1948 Olympic Medalist, CIA Specialist

Hans Jorgens Jensen, 79, who earned an Olympic gold medal in 1948 as part of the UC Berkeley rowing team, died Monday of natural causes at a Rancho Mirage hospital. He had homes at Lake Tahoe and Carmel.

Jensen learned to row as a UC Berkeley student in the early 1940s, then interrupted his college career to train as an aviator at Pensacola Naval Air Station during World War II. He returned to Berkeley, rejoined the rowing team and graduated in 1949.

Along with seven others, he earned the gold medal rowing on the Thames during the 1948 summer Olympics in London. His family said his participation in the Olympic Games remained Jensen’s proudest moment.

Because of his heritage, Jensen became a Scandinavian specialist for the CIA, serving in Denmark, Norway and West Germany. Until his retirement in 1976, he posed as a political attache or other foreign service officer to mask his intelligence work.