Gillis Emanuel Grafström (7 June 1893 – 14 April 1938) was a Swedish figure skater.

[4] In 1924, he traveled to the location of the competition, Manchester, at the last minute and skated in an exhibition before competing.

Although he had won, when he needed money afterward, the Swedish federation refused his request for help; Grafström informed his club that at future competitions, he would enter as an individual rather than as a representative of Sweden.

However, a document he needed to compete there was only approved by a narrow 3-2 vote, and he decided not to enter.

Ulrich Salchow was unhappy with this decision, and Grafström was banned from both competitions and exhibition skating for one year.

[4] In 1929, he was awarded the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal, shared with skier Sven Utterström.

[11] He also invented the Grafström-pirouette (on the back outside edge of the blade) and the flying sit spin.

Today this collection belongs to the World Figure Skating Museum in Colorado Springs in the United States.

Just two months later, he died in Potsdam, Germany, at the age of 44, of heart muscle inflammation, although his cause of death has often been reported as blood-poisoning.