The 2008 Finnish Athletics Championships were held in the Ratina Stadion in Tampere from July 24 to July 27, 2008. The event served as a qualification tournament for the 2008 Summer Olympics staged from August 15 to August 24, 2008 in Beijing, PR China.
The 1932 Summer Olympics were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932, in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held during the worldwide Great Depression, with some nations not traveling to Los Angeles as a result; 37 countries competed, compared to the 46 at the 1928 Games in Amsterdam, and even then-U.S. President Herbert Hoover did not attend the Games. The organizing committee did not report the financial details of the Games, although contemporary newspapers stated that the Games had made a profit of US$1 million.
The 1940 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XII Olympiad, was a planned international multi-sport event scheduled to have been held from 21 September to 6 October 1940, in Tokyo City, Japan, and later rescheduled for 20 July to 4 August 1940, in Helsinki, Finland following the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937. They were ultimately cancelled because of World War II alongside the 1940 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan, and were the third games to be cancelled due to war.
Eamonn Christopher Coghlan is an Irish former track and field athlete who specialised in middle distance track events and the 5,000 metres. He is a three-time Olympian, held the world indoor mile record and was world champion in the 5,000 m. Coghlan served as a senator from 2011 to 2016.
Lasse Artturi Virén is a Finnish former long-distance runner, winner of four gold medals at the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics. Virén recaptured the image of the "Flying Finns" promoted by runners like Hannes Kolehmainen, Paavo Nurmi and Ville Ritola in the 1920s. He was elected Finnish Sportsman of the Year in 1972 and 1976 and later became a politician and a member of Finland's parliament in 1999–2007 and 2010–2011.
Carlos Alberto de Sousa Lopes is a Portuguese former long-distance runner who competed for Sporting CP at club level.
The Helsinki Olympic Stadium, located in the Töölö district about 2.3 kilometres (1.4 mi) from the centre of the Finnish capital Helsinki, is the largest stadium in the country. The stadium is best known for being the centre of activities in the 1952 Summer Olympics. During those games, it hosted athletics, equestrian show jumping, and the football finals.
Kerron Stephon Clement is a Trinidadian-born American track and field athlete who competes in the 400-meter hurdles and 400-meter sprint. He held the indoor world record in the 400-meter sprint, having broken Michael Johnson's mark in 2005.
David Robert Moorcroft is a former middle-distance and long-distance runner from England, and former world record holder for 5,000 metres. His athletic career spanned the late-1970s and 1980s. He subsequently served as the Chief Executive of UK Athletics from 1997 to 2007. He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1983 and promoted to an Officer (OBE) in 1999, in both cases for services to athletics. In March 2023, he was appointed a Deputy lieutenant of the West Midlands.
Stockholm Olympic Stadium, most often called Stockholms stadion or simply Stadion, is a stadium in Stockholm, Sweden. Designed by architect Torben Grut, it was opened in 1912; its original use was as a venue for the 1912 Olympic Games. At the 1912 Games, it hosted athletics, some equestrian and football matches, gymnastics, the running part of the modern pentathlon, tug of war, and wrestling events. It has a capacity of 13,145–14,500 depending on usage and a capacity of nearly 33,000 for concerts.
Tero Kristian Pitkämäki is a Finnish retired track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He is a World Champion, having won gold in 2007. His personal best throw of 91.53 m, set in 2005, ranks him eleventh on the overall list.
Dame Valerie Kasanita Adams is a retired New Zealand shot putter. She is a four-time World champion, four-time World Indoor champion, two-time Olympic, three-time Commonwealth Games champion and twice IAAF Continental Cup winner. She has a personal best throw of 21.24 metres (69.7 ft) outdoors and 20.98 metres (68.8 ft) indoors. These marks are Oceanian, Commonwealth and New Zealand national records. She also holds the Oceanian junior record (18.93 m) and the Oceanian youth record (17.54 m), as well as the World Championships record, World Indoor Championships record and Commonwealth Games record.
Viktor Danilovich Saneyev was a Georgian triple jumper who competed internationally for the USSR. He won four Olympic medals – three golds and one silver (1980). Saneyev set the world record on three occasions. He was born in Sukhumi, Georgian SSR, trained in Sukhumi and Tbilisi, and died in Sydney.
Enezaide do Rosário da Vera Cruz Gomes is a Portuguese retired athlete who competed primarily in long jump. Born in São Tomé and Príncipe, she moved to Lisbon when she was 11 and began formally practising athletics when she was 13. She initially competed at international events as a representative of São Tomé and Príncipe before becoming a naturalised citizen of Portugal in 2001. Prior to changing her nationality, she set a São Toméan national record in every type of event she competed in at the international level, including women's 100 metres hurdles, long jump, high jump, triple jump, shot put, javelin throw, pentathlon, and heptathlon. She also holds the Portuguese national records in women's long jump, high jump, pentathlon, and heptathlon. At the club level, she represented Sporting CP and was coached by Abreu Matos.
The men's marathon event was part of the track and field athletics programme at the 1924 Summer Olympics, in Paris, France. The marathon was held on Sunday, July 13, 1924. It was only the second Olympic marathon to use the distance of 42.195 km which was first used in 1908 and is now the standard marathon distance. Fifty-eight runners from 20 nations competed, with no more than 6 runners per nation. The event was won by Albin Stenroos of Finland, the nation's second consecutive Olympic marathon victory.
Daniel "Dan" Awde is a British 400 metres runner and former decathlete who has twice competed at the Summer Olympic Games.
Julius Yego is a Kenyan track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. Nicknamed "Mr. YouTube" because he learned how to throw by watching YouTube videos of javelin athletes, Yego is the African record holder for the event with a personal best of 92.72 m.
The 10,000 metres at the Summer Olympics is the longest track running event held at the multi-sport event. The men's 10,000 m has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since 1912. The women's event was added to the programme over seventy years later, at the 1988 Olympics. It is the most prestigious 10,000 m race at elite level. The competition format is a straight final between around 30 athletes, although prior to 2004 a qualifying round was held.
Finland competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. Finnish athletes have appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympic Games since the nation's official debut in 1908.
Veli-Matti "Aku" Partanen is a Finnish racewalker who competes mostly at the 50 kilometres race walk. Partanen's club is Lappeenrannan Urheilumiehet.
Finland competed at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 September to 18 September 2016. They earned three medals, one gold, one silver and one bronze.
Media related to 2008 Finnish Championships in Athletics at Wikimedia Commons
