Reima Untamo Salonen (born November 19, 1955, in Taivassalo, Southwest Finland) is a retired race walker from Finland, known for winning the gold medal in the men's 50 km Walk event at the 1982 European Championships in Athens, Greece. A former world record holder, he represented his native country in three Summer Olympics (1980, 1984 and 1988).
He was the bronze medalist at the 1976 World Championships in Athletics – a one-off 50 km walk competition to compensate for the dropping of the event at the 1976 Summer Olympics. [1]
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | World Championships | Malmö, Sweden | 3rd | 50 km | |
| 1980 | Olympic Games | Moscow, Soviet Union | 9th | 20 km | 1:31:32 |
| — | 50 km | DNF | |||
| 1982 | European Championships | Athens, Greece | 1st | 50 km | 3:55:29 |
| 1983 | World Championships | Helsinki, Finland | 12th | 20 km | 1:22:51 |
| 1984 | Olympic Games | Los Angeles, United States | 4th | 50 km | 3:58:30 |
| 1988 | Olympic Games | Seoul, South Korea | 42nd | 20 km | 1:28:25 |
| 18th | 50 km | 3:51:36 |
The World Athletics Championships, known as the IAAF World Championships in Athletics until 2019, are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics, formerly International Association of Athletics Federations. Alongside Olympic Games, the championships represents the highest level of senior international outdoor athletics competition for track and field athletics globally, including marathon running and race walking. Separate World Championships are held by World Athletics for certain other outdoor events, including cross-country running and half-marathon, as well as indoor and age-group championship.
At the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, 37 events were contested in athletics. There were a total number of 1005 participating athletes from 80 countries.
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.
Race walking, or racewalking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Race judges carefully assess that this is maintained throughout the race. Typically held on either roads or running tracks, common distances range from 3,000 metres (1.9 mi) up to 100 kilometres (62.1 mi).
Finland competed at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, USSR. 105 competitors, 99 men and 6 women, took part in 71 events in 16 sports.
Finland competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, United States. 86 competitors, 73 men and 13 women, took part in 76 events in 15 sports.
The World Athletics Race Walking Tour is a racewalking series organised by World Athletics. Athletes accumulate points in specific race walk meetings during the season. Performances in 10 kilometres race walk, 20 kilometres race walk and 50 kilometres race walk count towards athlete's final scores. Since 2011, racewalking performances at the World Athletics Championships and Olympic Games count towards the series. Women have competed in the 50 km distance since 2018.
Wang Zhen is a Chinese race walker who specialises in the 10 kilometres and 20 kilometres race walk. He holds the senior Asian record for the 20 km with his time of 1:17:36 hours and is also the Asian, Chinese and junior world record holder over 10 km. He was the bronze medallist over 20 km at the 2012 London Olympics and the gold medallist at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Cristian Andrés Chocho León is an Ecuadorian race walker who competes in both the 20 km and 50 km walk events. He is the South American record holder in the 50 km and 20,000 metres walking events.
Yusuke Suzuki is a Japanese racewalker. He has represented Japan in the 20 km event twice at the World Championships in Athletics and competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics. He is the pending world record holder for the 20 km walk with a time of 1:16:36 hours at an event in his home town of Nomi in 2015.
The Asian Race Walking Championships is an annual race walking competition for athletes representing countries from Asia, organized by the Asian Athletics Association (AAA). It was established in 2006 and has featured races for senior men and women (20 km). After the inaugural event 2006 in Wajima, Japan, the competition was split into two events: the 20 km were incorporated into the All-Japan Race Walking competitions held in mid March in Nomi, Japan. The 50 km event was held about a month later in mid April in Wajima, Japan. This is established until the year 2008. There are still annual national 50 km championships held in Wajima, but the further fate of the 50 km event within the Asian Race Walking Championships remains unknown.
The 1980 World Championships in Athletics was the second global, international athletics competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). Hosted from 14 to 16 August 1980 at the De Baandert in Sittard, Netherlands, it featured two events: the women's 400 metres hurdles and the women's 3000 metres run. West Germany's Birgit Friedmann took the first women's world title in the 3000 m, while her East German counterpart Bärbel Broschat became the first women's 400 m hurdles world champion.
The 1976 World Championships in Athletics was the first global, international athletics competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). Hosted on 18 September 1976 in Malmö, Sweden, it featured just one event: a men's 50 kilometres race walk contest. The course passed through the streets of the city and the start and finish points were within Malmö Stadion.
Enrique Vera Ibáñez is a Mexican and Swedish former race walking athlete.
Mykola Alekseyevich Vynnychenko is a former Soviet Ukrainian race walker.
Turun Weikot is a sports club from Turku, Finland. It was established in 1912. TuWe is organized in seven sections; football, athletics, bowling, boxing, gymnastics, volleyball and weightlifting. The club is a member of the Finnish Workers' Sports Federation.
Dane Alex Bird-Smith is an Australian racewalking athlete. He competes in the 20 kilometres race walk, and has a best of 1:19:28 hours for the distance, set in 2017. He competed at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where he was the bronze medallist. Bird-Smith represented Australia at the World Championships in Athletics three times, and has appeared four times at the IAAF World Race Walking Team Championships/Cup.
Yevgeniy Lyungin is a former Soviet racewalker who competed in the 50 kilometres race walk distance. He became his country's first winner of the event at the IAAF World Race Walking Cup in 1975.
Teodorico Caporaso is a male Italian racewalker who won four international medals at senior level at the race walk competitions. He competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in 50 km walk.
Paolo Grecucci is an Italian former racewalking athlete. He was a five-time participant at the IAAF World Race Walking Cup and was a bronze medallist in the 50 kilometres race walk at the event in 1977.
| 1934–2018 50 kilometres |
|
|---|---|
| 2022–present 35 kilometres |
|
  | This biographical article relating to Finnish athletics is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
