Finnish Olympic History
There were no Finnish delegates at the inaugural congress of the International Olympic Committee in Paris 1894, nor did any Finnish athletes participate in the first three editions of the modern Olympic Games in Athens 1896, Paris 1900 and Saint Louis 1904. Competitive sports were only beginning in Finland at that time, and Russian authorities treated all organised citizen activities in the country with suspicion.
A team of four Finnish athletes travelled with private funding to Athens in 1906 to participate at the competitions that are known to later Olympic history as the Intercalated Games. Verner Weckman won a gold medal in wrestling and Verner Järvinen did the same in Ancient style discus throw. Their success raised enthusiasm for sports in Finland, and a temporary relaxation of Russian control created a flurry of organisational activity, including the creation of the Finnish Gymnastics and Sports Federation (SVUL) as the central national organisation of Finnish sports.
In May 1907 the International Olympic Committee decided in its Session in The Hague to elect Baron Reinhold Felix von Willebrand its first member in Finland. On 2 December 1907 representatives of Finnish sports organisations, meeting on the invitation of the Baron, founded the first Finnish Olympic Committee to prepare the participation of Finnish athletes in the forthcoming Olympic Games in London. The success of the Finnish team in London 1908 was not as good as had been expected, though. The only gold medal was won by the wrestler Verner Weckman, who thus became the first Finnish champion at official Olympic Games as well.
At the next Games in Stockholm 1912 Finland made its breakthrough to the ranks of major nations in Olympic sports. Led by the long-distance runner Hannes Kolehmainen, Finnish track and field athletes and wrestlers won nine gold medals. Finnish athletes competed in Stockholm under the Russian flag but as a separate team. In the Olympic Congress in Paris 1914 Russian pressure resulted in the revoking of Finland’s right of separate Olympic representation. That decision was never put into effect, as the outbreak of the First World War and Finland’s subsequent independence in 1917 changed the situation completely.
Competing for the first time under their own flag, Finnish athletes won no less than 15 gold medals at the Antwerp Games of 1920. In Paris 1924 they won an all-time high of 37 medals, enough to place Finland third in the overall medal table behind the United States and France, second if not counting the art competitions. Winner of nine gold medals in long-distance races between 1920 and 1928, Paavo Nurmi is still counted among the greatest Olympic athletes of all time. Success continued in the 1930’s, somewhat abated but on a wider front. In Berlin 1936 Finnish athletes won gold medals in boxing and gymnastics as well as in their familiar fields of track and field athletics and wrestling. At the Olympic Winter Games, inaugurated in 1924, Finnish medals were at first mostly provided by speed skaters led by Clas Thunberg, since the 1930’s also by cross-country skiers.
Finnish medal success in the inter-war years is made even more remarkable by the fact that only a little more than half of Finland’s athletes were eligible to compete at the Olympic Games. The Workers’ Sports Federation, founded in 1919 by leftist clubs expelled from the SVUL in the aftermath of the Civil War of 1918, kept its distance from the Olympic movement until 1939.
Success of their athletes inevitably made Finns entertain dreams of hosting the Olympic Games. Helsinki lost the bid for the 1940 Games to Tokyo, but in 1938 the Japanese relinquished the Games due to their war with China and Helsinki accepted the offer to stand in. Preparations were proceeding at good pace when the Second World War broke out. On 23 April 1940 Finland finally relinquished the Games following its defeat to the Soviet Union in the Winter War of 1939/40 and Germany’s recent invasion of Scandinavia.
A new bid was put forward as soon as the war was over, and in 1947 the IOC awarded the Olympic Games of 1952 to Helsinki. The successful bid campaign and the Organisation Committee of the Games were both led by Erik von Frenckell, who also became a long-stading member of the IOC (1948–76). The Games of the XV Olympiad took place in Helsinki on 19 July–3 August 1952. With 4,925 participants from 69 countries, including for the first time the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China, they were the largest Olympic Games held to that date. The Finnish hosts received almost unanimous praise for their organisation of the Games.
Finnish medal success at Olympic summer Games never reached the pre-war level again. The most successful Finnish Olympic athletes in the 1950’s and 1960’s were the cross-country skiers Veikko Hakulinen and Eero Mäntyranta, winners of three gold medals each. Finnish Olympic preparations were often hampered at that time by political quarrels, culminating in the non-participation of athletes of TUL at the Rome Games of 1960. Led by its influential president Jukka Uunila the Finnish Olympic Committee took an active interest in the training of Olympic athletes since the late 1960’s. Finnish track and field athletics in particular enjoyed a spectacular renaissance in the 1970’s, highlighted by Lasse Virén’s four gold medals in long-distance races.
After inflated medal hauls at the boycott-stricken Games of 1980 and 1984 Finnish success at Olympic summer Games has been rather modest, reaching an all-time low of two silver medals in Athens 2004. These Games also marked the end of two proud records in Finnish Olympic history: between 1906 and 2000 Finland had won at least one gold medal and at least one medal in track and field athletics at every Games. Beijing 2008 saw a happy return for Finland on both of these accounts.
On the other hand, at the Olympic Winter Games Finland has constantly enjoyed good success on a wide front. At the Turin Games of 2006 Finland won medals in eight different sports, more than any other nation in Europe.
