Suomen Olympiakomitea

SEOUL 1988

• 17 September – 2 October 1988
• 237 official medal events.
• 8,446 competitors from 159 countries.
• Finnish team: 81 athletes (78 participated in official events).

For the first time since 1976 most major sports nations took part at the Olympic summer Games. For Finland the Seoul Games marked a definite downturn in fortunes: the overall result of one gold, one silver and two bronze medals was the poorest in Finnish summer Games history to that date. The trend of diversification was reversed, as all the medals came in the most traditional Finnish success sports: javelin throwing and wrestling. Tapio Korjus saved the Games for Finland by winning gold in the javelin competition with his last attempt, with Seppo Räty accompanying him on the medal podium. On the wrestling mat Harri Koskela won silver and Tapio Sipilä bronze. By contrast, medal hopes went unfulfilled in shooting, archery, rowing and women’s javelin throw.

Medal Standings

		G	S	B	Total
1	Soviet Union	55	31	46	132
2	GDR	37	35	30	102
3	USA	36	31	27	94
4	South Korea	12	10	11	33
5	FR Germany	11	14	15	40
6	Hungary	11	6	6	23
7	Bulgaria	10	12	13	35
8	Romania	7	11	6	24
9	France	6	4	6	16
10	Italy	6	4	4	14
11	China	5	11	12	28
12	Great Britain	5	10	9	24
13	Kenya	5	2	2	9
14	Japan	4	3	7	14
15	Australia	3	6	5	14
16	Yugoslavia	3	4	5	12
17	Czechoslovakia	3	3	2	8
18	New Zealand	3	2	8	13
19	Canada	3	2	5	10
20	Poland	2	5	9	16
21	Norway	2	3	0	5
22	Netherlands	2	2	5	9
23	Denmark	2	1	1	4
24	Brazil	1	2	3	6
25	Finland	1	1	2	4
	Spain	1	1	2	4
27	Turkey	1	1	0	2
28	Morocco	1	0	2	3
29	Portugal	1	0	0	1
	Surinam	1	0	0	1
	Austria	1	0	0	1
32	Sweden	0	4	7	11
33	Switzerland	0	2	2	4
34	Jamaica	0	2	0	2
35	Argentina	0	1	1	2
36	Senegal	0	1	0	1
	Costa Rica	0	1	0	1
	Iran	0	1	0	1
	US Virgin Islands	0	1	0	1
	Dutch Antilles	0	1	0	1
	Chile	0	1	0	1
	Indonesia	0	1	0	1
	Peru	0	1	0	1
44	Mexico	0	0	2	2
	Belgium	0	0	2	2
46	Djibouti	0	0	1	1
	Greece	0	0	1	1
	Philippines	0	0	1	1
	Thailand	0	0	1	1
	Colombia	0	0	1	1
	Mongolia	0	0	1	1
	Pakistan	0	0	1	1

FINNISH MEDALS

1988 Seoul	1 gold 1 silver 2 bronze
Gold:
Javelin throw M	Tapio Korjus
Silver:
Greco-Roman wrestling 90 kg	Harri Koskela
Bronze:
Javelin throw M	Seppo Räty
Greco-Roman wrestling 68 kg	Tapio Sipilä

M Men
W Women