B. 1949-07-22, Myrskyla, Finland
Track and Field (4 gold)
| 1972 | 1976 | 1980 | HP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5000 m | gold | gold | - | 12800 |
| 10000 m | gold | gold | fifth | 20700 |
| Marathon | - | fifth | dnf | 1500 |
| 35000 |
He revived the finnish supremacy at long distance by winning the 5000 and
10000 metres at München. In the longer race he survived a fall just
before halfway and recovered to cover the last 800 m in 1.56.2. He beat the
world record by 1 second. He became the fourth man to do the double in Olympic
history and the first to repeat the performance, at Montreal.
In 1999 he was elected to the Finnish Parlement.
Written 2002-11-01 - last modified 2022-10-12
This page is part of the site "Full Olympians" by Herman De Wael. See here for a full Introduction.