Finland at the 1912 Summer Olympics
Finland competed at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden. The Grand Duchy of Finland was part of the Russian Empire at the time, but Finland's results are kept separate from those of Russia. In the Opening Ceremony Finland's team paraded under the national insignia flag of a Swedish-speaking female gymnastics club in Helsinki. 164 competitors, 162 men and 2 women, took part in 49 events in 10 sports. Six divers, all men, represented Finland, it was Finland's second appearance in diving, with both of the divers who had represented the nation in 1908 returning. Toivo Aro was the only Finnish diver to advance to the finals, his fifth-place finish in the plain high diving was Finland's best performance to date, improving upon his own sixth-place finish in the 1908 platform competition. Rankings given are within the diver's heat. Men Six swimmers, including two women, competed for Finland at the 1912 Games, it was the second time the nation had competed in swimming, in which Finland had competed each time the nation appeared independently.
Aaltonen had the best finish of the Games, finishing third in his 400-metre breaststroke final to miss qualification for the final. Ranks given for each swimmer are within the heat. MenWomen 23 athletes represented Finland, it was the second appearance of the nation in athletics, as well as at the Olympics. The Finland athletics team finished with 6 gold medals, 4 silvers, 3 bronzes—a great improvement over the single bronze Finland won in 1908. Hannes Kolehmainen finished with the Olympic records in the 5000 and 10000 metres, as well as gold medals in both events and the individual cross country. Armas Taipale added another gold medal and Olympic record in the discus throw, bettering the new Olympic record that Elmer Niklander set and held in the preliminary round. Julius Saaristo set an Olympic record in the javelin, though it was surpassed; the Finns swept. Ranks given are within that athlete's heat for running events. Five cyclists represented Finland, it was the first appearance of the nation in cycling.
Antti Raita had the best time in the time trial, the only race held. The four Finnish cyclists who finished had a combined time. First round Quarterfinals Semifinals Bronze medal match Final rank 4th place Twenty-four gymnasts represented Finland, it was the second appearance of the nation in gymnastics, in which Finland had competed at its only prior Olympic appearance. The Finnish team placed second in the team free system event. Six rowers represented Finland, it was the nation's first appearance in rowing. Twenty seven sailors represented Finland, it was the nation's first appearance in sailing. The Finns were unable to a win any gold medals. Nineteen shooters represented Finland, it was the nation's second appearance in shooting, in which Finland had competed each time the nation appeared at the Olympics independently. The Finns won two bronze medals in the running deer competitions—an individual medal for Toivonen and a team medal. Finland, competing independently in the Olympics for the second time, sent 37 wrestlers for its second Olympic wrestling appearance.
The country was the most successful in the sport, taking seven of 15 medals. The Finns took the top spot in four of the five weight classes, they 8-5-1 in the medal rounds. Koskelo and Väre were the best performers, cruising through their respective weight classes without losses to take gold medals. Saarela and Olin suffered losses only to other Finns in the heavyweight. Olin was beaten by Viljaama in the elimination rounds, but gave Saarela the latter's only loss of the tournament one round later; the two met again in the final, with Saarela winning the rematch to take the gold medal while Olin received silver. Böhling made it through the elimination rounds undefeated, won his match against Varga in the medals round to advance to the final against Ahlgren; the two wrestlers competed for nine hours without either being able to take a win. No gold medal was given in the weight class. Asikainen's only elimination round loss came in a double-disqualification against eventual gold medalist Johansson.
In the medal round, he faced Klein in a bout that lasted 40 minutes. Neither wrestler was able to continue after this grueling match, so Asikainen's loss in it led to him taking the bronze medal, Klein the silver, while the Swede Johansson walked over against first Asikainen and Klein to take the gold. Official Olympic Reports International Olympic Committee results database
Joseph Guillemot
Joseph Guillemot was a French middle- and long-distance runner. He won the 5000 was second in the 10,000 metres at the 1920 Summer Olympics. Guillemot's athletics career began while he was serving in World War I. During the war he won the national cross-country championships of the French military, he returned to the front and fought until the Armistice on 11 November 1918. During World War I, Guillemot was the victim of an accident that left his right lung permanently damaged by mustard gas. In addition, his heart was located on the right-hand side of his chest. Guillemot went on to have a successful career in athletics. In 1920 Guillemot won the French national championship in the 5000 m, which qualified him for the Olympic Games in Antwerp that year; the favourite for the 5000 m in Antwerp was Paavo Nurmi. In the final of the 5000 m, Nurmi ran at a high pace in the first half of the race as a strategy to exhaust the Swedes Eric Backman and Rudolf Falk. Only Guillemot was able to follow Nurmi's pace.
Guillemot passed Nurmi on the last bend to take the victory. Guillemot took the silver medal in the 10,000 m behind Nurmi; the final of the 10,000 m was brought forward by three hours at the request of King Albert of Belgium, which Guillemot was only informed of after eating a large lunch. Suffering from stomach cramps and wearing shoes that were two sizes too large, Guillemot finished 1.4 seconds behind Nurmi in second place. After the 1920 Olympics, Guillemot won three titles in the International Cross Country Championships: one individual title in 1922 and two with the French team in 1922 and 1926, he won the French 5000 m title on three occasions, but missed the 1924 Olympics due to disagreements with the French Athletics Union. Guillemot held two world records: 3000 m. Having been a pack a day cigarette smoker, Guillemot died of lung cancer in Oradour-Saint-Genest at the age of 75. Joseph Guillemot at the International Olympic Committee
Lauri Lehtinen
Lauri Aleksanteri Lehtinen was a Finnish long-distance runner, winner of a controversial 5000 m race at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Lehtinen ran a new world record in 5000 m just a month prior to the Olympics, thus becoming a main favourite to the Olympic 5000 m title. In the final, the Finns Lehtinen and Lauri Virtanen led early, they managed to shake off all other competitors except Ralph Hill from the United States. Soon the race turned into a battle between Hill. On the last lap, Hill tried to overtake Lehtinen. Seeing this, the Finn blocked his way, zig-zagging from one lane to the other to the great exasperation of the crowd. At the finish, Lehtinen crossed first a mere 50 centimetres ahead. Although this was a common tactic in Europe, the American audience was unaccustomed to it, so they booed. Hill declined to file a protest, they both recorded an identical time of 14:30.0. This was the only Olympic race longer than 200 metres in which the top two finishers recorded identical times.
At the 1936 Summer Olympics, Lehtinen couldn't defend his title, finishing second after fellow countryman Gunnar Höckert. In 1940, Lehtinen donated his Los Angeles gold medal to a soldier who had served with distinction on the Karelian Isthmus. Lehtinen's gesture was a mark of respect for Höckert, killed in action on the Isthmus. In Kerkkoo village in Porvoo, there is a road named after him, "Lauri Lehtisen Tie." Lauri Lehtinen at the International Olympic Committee
United States
The United States of America known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U. S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D. C. and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico; the State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean; the U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The diverse geography and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.
Paleo-Indians migrated from Siberia to the North American mainland at least 12,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century; the United States emerged from the thirteen British colonies established along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the colonies following the French and Indian War led to the American Revolution, which began in 1775, the subsequent Declaration of Independence in 1776; the war ended in 1783 with the United States becoming the first country to gain independence from a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, with the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, being ratified in 1791 to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties; the United States embarked on a vigorous expansion across North America throughout the 19th century, acquiring new territories, displacing Native American tribes, admitting new states until it spanned the continent by 1848. During the second half of the 19th century, the Civil War led to the abolition of slavery.
By the end of the century, the United States had extended into the Pacific Ocean, its economy, driven in large part by the Industrial Revolution, began to soar. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a global military power; the United States emerged from World War II as a global superpower, the first country to develop nuclear weapons, the only country to use them in warfare, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. Sweeping civil rights legislation, notably the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fair Housing Act of 1968, outlawed discrimination based on race or color. During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed in the Space Race, culminating with the 1969 U. S. Moon landing; the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the world's sole superpower. The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation, it is a representative democracy.
The United States is a founding member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States, other international organizations. The United States is a developed country, with the world's largest economy by nominal GDP and second-largest economy by PPP, accounting for a quarter of global GDP; the U. S. economy is post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge-based activities, although the manufacturing sector remains the second-largest in the world. The United States is the world's largest importer and the second largest exporter of goods, by value. Although its population is only 4.3% of the world total, the U. S. holds 31% of the total wealth in the world, the largest share of global wealth concentrated in a single country. Despite wide income and wealth disparities, the United States continues to rank high in measures of socioeconomic performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP, worker productivity.
The United States is the foremost military power in the world, making up a third of global military spending, is a leading political and scientific force internationally. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a world map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America in honor of the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci; the first documentary evidence of the phrase "United States of America" is from a letter dated January 2, 1776, written by Stephen Moylan, Esq. to George Washington's aide-de-camp and Muster-Master General of the Continental Army, Lt. Col. Joseph Reed. Moylan expressed his wish to go "with full and ample powers from the United States of America to Spain" to seek assistance in the revolutionary war effort; the first known publication of the phrase "United States of America" was in an anonymous essay in The Virginia Gazette newspaper in Williamsburg, Virginia, on April 6, 1776. The second draft of the Articles of Confederation, prepared by John Dickinson and completed by June 17, 1776, at the latest, declared "The name of this Confederation shall be the'United States of America'".
The final version of the Articles sent to the states for ratification in late 1777 contains the sentence "The Stile of this Confederacy shall be'The United States of America'". In June 1776, Thomas Jefferson wrote the phrase "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" in all capitalized letters in the headline of his "original Rough draught" of the Declaration of Independence; this draft of the document did not surface unti
Athletics at the 1924 Summer Olympics – Men's individual cross country
The men's individual cross country event was part of the track and field athletics programme at the 1924 Summer Olympics. It was the last appearance of this event; the competition was held on Saturday, July 12, 1924. Thirty-eight runners from ten nations competed; the first three runners for each nation to finish in this event were counted towards the cross country team result. Due to the hot weather conditions only fifteen starters were able to finish the race. Olympic Report Wudarski, Pawel. "Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich". Archived from the original on 14 October 2008. Retrieved 14 October 2008
Flying Finn
"The Flying Finn" is a nickname given to several Finnish athletes who were noted for their speed. It was given to several Finnish middle and long-distance runners; the term was extended to notable Finnish racing sportsmen. The nickname was first used of Hannes Kolehmainen known as "Smiling Hannes", as he took home three gold medals and broke two world records during the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm; as Finnish runners started to dominate long-distance running, the nickname was passed on to all successful Finns in the sport, including multi-Olympic gold medalists Paavo Nurmi and Ville Ritola. Nurmi won three gold medals at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Belgium and five at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, where he was partnered with Ritola, who ran to four gold medals. Volmari Iso-Hollo, the winner of 3000 m steeplechase at the 1932 and 1936 Summer Olympics, was one of the best-known Finnish runners in the 1930s and nicknamed the Flying Finn. During his tour of the United States in 1940, Taisto Mäki—who held five world records—was referred to as a Flying Finn.
The last Flying Finn in running was Lasse Virén, who won the 5000 m and 10,000 m events at the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics. The nickname was next used to describe the efforts of Finnish rally drivers in the 1960s. Timo Mäkinen, Rauno Aaltonen and Simo Lampinen were among the first drivers referenced as the Flying Finn. In 1968, Castrol released a film called "The Flying Finns", it featured the 1968 1000 Lakes Rally and concentrated on documenting the duel between Mäkinen and Hannu Mikkola; the term moved on to the next generations of Finnish rally drivers, among others, the four-time World Rally Champions Juha Kankkunen and Tommi Mäkinen were referred to as Flying Finns. The first driver to carry the nickname in Formula One was Leo Kinnunen. Kinnunen had the title written on his helmet in 1970, when he won the World Sportscar Championship for Porsche. However, he wasn't able to turn his success in sports car racing into a successful F1 career in his underpowered Surtees. In the 1980s the moniker was given to Keke Rosberg, who became the first well-known Finn in the sport, winning the 1982 world championship.
Following the success of Finnish drivers, Rosberg has been described as the "original Flying Finn". After Rosberg, many Finnish Formula 1 drivers have been called the "Flying Finn", including Mika Häkkinen, who won the drivers' championship in 1998 and 1999, Mika Salo, Kimi Räikkönen, drivers' champion in 2007, Heikki Kovalainen, Valtteri Bottas. On two wheels, the most famous Flying Finn was Jarno Saarinen known as The Baron, who won the 250cc road racing World Championship as privateer in 1972, finished a close second to Giacomo Agostini in the 350cc class. Saarinen died the following year, while leading both the 250cc and 500cc championships and after competing for only three years, he remains in motorcycle sport history books for developing a new riding style, still predominantly in use today. During the 1970s, Finnish rider Heikki Mikkola won four motocross world championships and became known as the Flying Finn. Mika Kallio, who finished second in the 125cc championship in 2005 and 2006, has been nicknamed the Flying Finn.
Mauno Hermunen, who has finished third in 2010 and fourth in 2011 in the world supermoto series, has been nicknamed the Flying Finn. Shefki Kuqi, who played for Scottish side Hibernian F. C. has been nicknamed the "Flying Finn", owing to a strange but popular celebration when he scores a goal. His habit of throwing himself onto the ground, with his arms outstretched and landing on his chest, has drawn notice from many fans and media pundits. Timo Mäkinen – rally driver Rauno Aaltonen – rally driver Markku Alén – rally driver Marcus Grönholm – two time World Rally Champion Mikko Hirvonen – rally driver Joonas Kylmäkorpi – four time world long track champion Jari-Matti Latvala – rally driver Tommi Mäkinen – four time World Rally Champion Heikki Mikkola – four-time motocross world champion Keke Rosberg – F1 World Champion Jarno Saarinen – Motorcycle World Champion Teuvo Länsivuori – Motorcycle road racer Juha Kankkunen – four time World Rally Champion Juha Salminen – twelve time World Enduro Champion Timo Salonen – rally driver Marko Tarkkala – enduro rider Mika Salo – two time Le Mans GT2 winner Kari Tiainen – seven time World Enduro Champion Henri Toivonen – rally driver Ari Vatanen – rally driver Patu Leppälä – F1 boat driver Sami Seliö – F1 Boat World Champion Mika Häkkinen – two time F1 World Champion Kimi Räikkönen – F1 World Champion/World Rally Championship Driver Heikki Kovalainen – F1 race winner Valtteri Bottas – F1 race winner Janne Ahonen – ski jumper Toni Haikonen – snowmobile racer Jari Kurri – ice hockey player Matti Nykänen – ski jumper Kalle Palander – alpine skier Teemu Selänne – ice hockey player Kalevi Häkkinen – speed skier Patu Leppälä – Speed Skiing World Champion Pertti Karppinen – triple Olympic rowing champion.
Jarkko Nieminen – tennis player known for his speed. Makwan Amirkhani – MMA fighter known for his flying knee attack. Flying Finns - Famous Finnish Rally Drivers
Media related to Ville Ritola at Wikimedia Commons
Paavo Nurmi
