It is only Alexander Karelin that has a greater Olympic record than Rudolf Svensson. With three gold medals and one silver medal Alexander Karelin has made 11 medal points while Rudolf made 10 with two gold medals and two silver medals which surpasses the three-fold Olympic Champions Calle Westergren, Ivar Johansson and Alexander Medved.

Rudolf was born in Gudhem, just outside of the city Falköping in the province of Västergötland. He joined the army as a dragoon in Stockholm year 1918.

He decided to start practice wrestling year 1920 in Djurgårdens IF, but he had almost never participated in a competition when he was representing Sweden in the World Championships in Helsinki November 1921. The Swede won a silver medal in the weight category 82.5 kilograms which contained 11 participants. Only the Finnish wrestler Edil Rosenqvist beat him which he by the way also did at the World Championships in Stockholm the year after that.

Rudolf changed wrestling from Djurgårdens IF 1921 to the Firefighters Wrestling Club since he changed career and became a firefighter. He then continued to represent the Firefighters Wrestling club throughout his successful career.

Rudolf won two silver medals at the Olympic Games in Paris 1924, one in the antique style and one in the freestyle. He became Olympic Champion in the antique style both in Amsterdam 1928 and in Los Angeles 1932.