Lauri "Tahko" Pihkala was the inventor of pesäpallo, the Finnish variant of baseball. He was born in the vicarage of Pihtipudas, the son of the minister Alexander Gummerus. In 1969 he became one of the first persons to receive an honorary doctorate in Sport Sciences from the University of Jyväskylä, together with president Urho Kekkonen and Professor Kaarina Kari.
One competitor from Italy was present at the 1896 Summer Olympics. He competed in shooting. Italy was one of four nations present that won no medals; Sweden, Chile and Bulgaria were the others. Italy's competitor, Rivabella, entered one event in the shooting program.
The men's sailors 100 metre freestyle was one of the four swimming events on the Swimming at the 1896 Summer Olympics programme. The second swimming race was open only to sailors of the Greek Royal Navy. Eleven entered but only three actually took part in the event. The winning time was nearly a minute slower than that of the open 100 metre freestyle.
Finland competed at the Summer Olympic Games for the first time at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom. The Grand Duchy of Finland was an autonomous part of the Russian Empire at the time, which allowed it to send a separate team to the Games.
Ragnar Olof Jakob Stenberg was a Finnish sprinter and a sports leader.
Elmer Konstantin Niklander was a Finnish athlete who competed in throwing events, winning the gold medal in the 1920 discus throw and three other Olympic medals and 44 Finnish championships.
Aarne Ihamo Salovaara was a Finnish athlete who won two Olympic medals and two Finnish championships.
Johan Valdemar "Juho" Halme was a Finnish track and field athlete who competed in the 1908 and 1912 Summer Olympics and won six Finnish championships in various events in 1907–1916. He died during the Finnish Civil War. He was born and died in Helsinki.
Armas Johannes Pesonen was a Finnish track and field athlete who competed at the 1908 Summer Olympics.
Jalmari Verneri Sauli was a Finnish writer and track and field athlete who competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics.
Evert Brynolf Jakobsson was a Finnish javelin thrower who competed at the 1908 Summer Olympics.
Jarl Gustaf Anian Jakobsson was a Finnish track and field athlete who competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics.
Gustaf Richard Nyman was a Finnish sport shooter who competed in the 1908 and the 1912 Summer Olympics, and won a world championship bronze.
Boules was on the Summer Olympic Games programme in 1900. Boules events have generally not been classified as official, although the IOC has never decided which events were "Olympic" and which were not. As with the sport of croquet, generally regarded as "official", boules satisfied three of four retrospective criteria — restriction to amateurs, open to all nations, open to all competitors and without handicapping. As with croquet, there were only French players. All other "official" events met all four criteria.
Emil Michael Nässling was a Finnish sports shooter who competed at the 1908 Summer Olympics and won one Finnish national championship gold.
Frans Reinold Nässling was a Finnish sports shooter who competed at the 1908 and 1920 Summer Olympics and won three Finnish national championship golds.
Hugo Alarik Jonsson was a Finnish swimmer who competed at the 1908 Summer Olympics.
John Gustav Henriksson was a Finnish swimmer, who competed in two events at the 1908 Summer Olympics.
Herman Edvard Cederberg was a Finnish swimmer who competed at the 1908 and the 1912 Summer Olympics.
Lauri Wilskman was a Finnish track and field athlete who competed at the 1908 Summer Olympics.
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