Paavo Nurmi
Born in Turku, he was known as one of the "Flying Finns"; a term given to him, Hannes Kolehmainen, Ville Ritola and others for their distinction in running. During the 1920s, Nurmi was the best middle and long distance runner in the world, setting world records at distances between 1500 m and 20 km.
Nurmi won a total of nine gold and three silver medals in the 12 events in which he competed at the Olympic Games from 1920 to 1928.
In 1932, Nurmi was unable to compete at the Olympics, as he had received money for his running and was thus considered a professional.
Career
Olympic career
Nurmi debuted at the 1920 Summer Olympics by competing in four events. It was the last time these cross country events were held, as the great heat caused more than half of the competitors to abandon the race, and many more had to be taken to hospital.
Finnish officials, fearing for his health, refused to enter Nurmi in the 10,000 m event. An angry Nurmi protested after returning to Finland by setting a 10,000 m world record that would last for almost 13 years.
Nurmi ended his Olympic career at the 1928 Summer Olympics, winning the 10,000 m and two silver medals (5000 m and 3000 m steeplechase).
To this day, Nurmi is the single athlete in Track & Field who has won most Olympic medals, 12 in total, and ties with Larissa Latynina, Mark Spitz, Carl Lewis, and Michael Phelps for the most Olympic gold medals, of which he has nine. Due to this fact he is often considered as the greatest Track & Field athlete of all time.
The main conductors of the ban were the Swedish officials, especially Sigfrid Edström, the president of the IAAF and vice-president of the IOC. Edström claimed that Nurmi had received too much money for his travel expenses to a meet in Germany.
This was seen as jealousy by many in Finland and in part led to Finland refusing to participate in the traditional Finland-Sweden international athletics event Suomi-Ruotsi-maaottelu or Finnkampen until 1939.
However, Nurmi did travel to Los Angeles and kept training at the Olympic Village. Despite pleas from all the entrants of the marathon, Nurmi was not allowed to compete at the Games.
Although he had suffered from injuries, he claimed he would have won the marathon by five minutes after the event was over. He had set his heart on ending his career with a marathon gold medal, as his fellow countryman Kolehmainen had done after the First World War.
A Finnish national hero, Paavo Nurmi was the lighter of the Olympic Flame at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki.
He broke 39 official and unofficial world records and won 53 of the events. He abandoned one race and lost only an 880-yard sprint to the home country's star half-miler Alan Helffrich.
The tour made Nurmi immensely popular in the USA.
Finnish astronomer Yrjö Väisälä named an asteroid after Nurmi in 1939; 1740 Paavo Nurmi.
Nurmi was a vegetarian since the age of 12. An annual Paavo Nurmi Marathon has been held in Wisconsin, USA since 1969.
However in the film Nurmi's runner picture can be seen on the main character's wall.
A widely publicized practical joke by students at the Helsinki University of Technology took place in 1961, when a team of students smuggled a statue of Nurmi onto the 300-year-old wreck of the Swedish Regalskeppet Vasa just days before its lifting from the bottom of the sea
A Hollywood star, Maila Nurmi, who created the well-remembered 1950s character of Vampira, claims to be Paavo Nurmi's niece. Their consanguinity, however, has not been verified.
Nurmi never raced without a stopwatch in his hand, although he occasionally tossed it aside after building up a sufficient space cushion between himself and rival runners.
There is a Paavo Nurmi Gymnasium at Finlandia University, Hancock, Michigan, USA.
On the unveileing of a statue of him in Turku, which featured him running but without clothing in typical olympics statue fashion, Nurmi's only comment was "I don't run naked."
There is also a training system named after him.
It is also tied to the Paavo Running Camps held across the US each summer.
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