Paavo Johannes Nurmi was a Finnish middle-distance and long-distance runner. He was called the "Flying Finn" or the "Phantom Finn", as he dominated distance running in the 1920s. Nurmi set 22 official world records at distances between 1,500 metres and 20 kilometres, and won nine gold and three silver medals in his 12 events in the Summer Olympic Games. At his peak, Nurmi was undefeated for 121 races at distances from 800 m upwards. Throughout his 14-year career, he remained unbeaten in cross country events and the 10,000 metres.
The 1952 Summer Olympics (Finnish: Kesäolympialaiset 1952; officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad (Finnish: XV olympiadin kisat; and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1952 in Helsinki, Finland.
Vilho "Ville" Eino Ritola was a Finnish long-distance runner. Known as one of the "Flying Finns", he won five Olympic gold medals and three Olympic silver medals in the 1920s. He holds the record of winning most athletics medals at a single Games – four golds and two silvers in Paris 1924 - and ranks second in terms of most athletics gold medals at a single Games.
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, GCIH is a Portuguese former long-distance runner who competed for Sporting of Portugal at club level.
The 10th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), were held in the Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland, the site of the first IAAF World Championships in 1983. One theme of the 2005 championships was paralympic events, some of which were included as exhibition events. Much of the event was played in extremely heavy rainfall.
Alberto Cova is a retired Italian long-distance track athlete, winner of the 10,000 m at the 1984 Summer Olympics and 1983 World Championships.
John Treacy is an Irish Olympian and former athlete, now a sporting administrator. He is best known for winning a sliver medal in the marathon at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
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, nowadays mainly used for hosting sports events and big concerts. 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.
A photo finish occurs in a sporting race when multiple competitors cross the finishing line at nearly the same time. As the naked eye may not be able to determine which of the competitors crossed the line first, a photo or video taken at the finish line may be used for a more accurate check. Photo finishes make it less likely that officials will declare a race a dead heat.
Finnkampen, Suomi-Ruotsi-maaottelu or Ruotsi-ottelu, is a yearly international athletics competition held between Sweden and Finland since 1925.
Martti Olavi Vainio is a Finnish former long-distance runner. In Finland he is recognized as the last of the great runners of the famous "V-line", the previous ones being Juha Väätäinen, Lasse Virén, and Pekka Vasala. Each of them won at least one gold medal either at the Summer Olympics or the European Athletics Championships in the 1970s. Vainio's accomplishments are tarnished though, for testing positive for PEDs on at least two occasions. One of those events was the 1984 Olympic Games where he was disqualified and stripped of his medal and later suspended from sport.
The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2001 took place February 15–25, 2001 in Lahti, Finland for a record sixth time, previous events being held in 1926, 1938, 1958, 1978 and 1989. These championships also saw the most event changes since the 1950s with the 5 km women and 10 km men's events being discontinued, the 10 km women and 15 km men's events return to their normal status for the first time since the 1991 championships, the debut of a combined pursuit as a separate category, the addition of the individual sprint race for both genders, and the debut of the ski jumping team normal hill event. Extremely cold weather cancelled the women's 30 km event. The biggest controversy occurred when a doping scandal hit the host nation of Finland, resulting in six disqualifications. This would serve as a prelude to further doping cases in cross country skiing at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City the following year.
Finland competed at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden. The Grand Duchy of Finland was ruled by the Russian Empire at the time, but Finland's results are kept separate from those of Russia due to Finland's special status. 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.
Helsinki Swimming Stadium is an outdoor swimming venue in Helsinki, Finland, located in the Eläintarha area to the northeast of the Helsinki Olympic Stadium.
Taisto Armas Mäki was a Finnish long-distance runner – one of the so-called "Flying Finns". Like his coach and close friend, Paavo Nurmi, Mäki broke world records over two miles, 5000 metres and 10,000 metres – holding the records simultaneously between 1939 and 1942. Mäki was the first man to run 10,000 metres in less than 30 minutes, breaking his own world record in a time of 29:52.6 on 17 September 1939.
The men's 100 metres sprint event at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, Finland was held at the Olympic Stadium on 20 and 21 July. Seventy-two athletes from 33 nations competed; each nation was limited to 3 runners. The final was won by American Lindy Remigino, the fourth consecutive victory by a different American. Herb McKenley won Jamaica's first medal in the men's 100 metres with his silver, while McDonald Bailey's bronze put Great Britain on the podium for the first time since 1928. The final was "probably the closest mass finish in Olympic 100 metre history" with the first four runners all clocking in at 10.4 seconds hand-timed, all six finalists within 0.12 seconds electric-timed, and a photo finish necessary to separate the winners.
Makkabi Helsinki is a Finnish Jewish sports club in Helsinki, Finland. It is the oldest Jewish sports club in the world that has an uninterrupted history. It was founded in 1906 with the name “Stjärnan”'. The current name was adopted in 1936.
The Wednesday Club is a 2013 novel by Finnish author Kjell Westö. It won the Nordic Council's Literature Prize in 2014. The novel tells about Helsinki in 1938.
The 1952 Summer Olympics torch relay was the symbolic transport of the Olympic flame from Olympia, Greece, to the venue of the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland, where it featured as part of the opening ceremony.
