Background
He was born in Verdal as an older brother of historian Edgeir Benum.
professor athletics competitor
He was born in Verdal as an older brother of historian Edgeir Benum.
University of Oslo; University of Bergen.
He specialized in the longest track distances, 5000 and 10,000 metres, in which he also competed at 1964 Olympic Games as well as cross-country running. After his active career he became a professor of medicine. He moved to Oslo and represented the club Illinois i BUL. His personal best times were 8:09.6 in the 3000 metres (1964), 9:19.2 in the 3000 metre steeplechase (1963), 14:06.6 in the 5000 metres (1964) and 29:13.6 in the 10,000 metres (1964).
In middle distance races he had 1:54.8 in the 800 metres (1959), 3:47.6 in the 1500 metres (1959) and 4:13.1 in the mile run (1959).
His only international outing came at the 1964 Summer Olympics, where he placed nineteenth in the 10,000 metres. By 1964/1965, his teammate and competitor Thor Helland had established himself as dominant in the 5000 and 10,000 metres in Norway.
Benum also co-held the Norwegian club record in the 4 x 1500 metres relay. With his club Illinois i BUL he broke IK Tjalve"s record in September 1958 at Bislett stadion with the time of 15:53.4 minutes.
Benum and BUL later smashed their own record, clocking in 15:40.0 in July 1959 at the same track.
Tjalve later reclaimed it with the time 15:28.4 in 1965. Benum dominated Norwegian cross-country running in the early 1960s. As a teenager, Benum was also a decent speed skater with personal bests of 49.1 in the 500 metres (1954), 2.38.8 in the 1500 metres (1952).
He took the doctorate, the dr.med. degree, in 1974 and specialized in orthopedics.
From 1982 he was a professor of medicine at the Saint Olav Hospital, connected to the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. He is a fellow of the Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences.
Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences.