Great Olympians

Biographies - NUR

Jorge Nuré

Victor "Vic" Nurenberg

Norayr Nurikyan

Abdul Kadir Nuristani

Ahmad Jahan Nuristani

Din Mohammad Nuristani

Jahan Gulam Nuristani

Mohammad Amin Nuristani

Mohammad Jahan Nuristani

Mohammad Kadir Nuristani

Noor Ullah Nuristani

Ramazan Nuristani

Holger Nurmela

Sulo Nurmela

Paavo Nurmi

B. 1897-06-13, Turku, Finland; D. 1973-10-02
Athletics (9 gold, 3 silver)

	1920	1924	1928	HP
1500 m		gold		6400
5000 m	silver	gold	silver	18000
10000 m	gold		gold	19200
3000 m Team		gold		1600
Cross-Country	gold	gold		16000
Cross-Country, Team	gold	gold		3200
3000 m Steeple			silver	6000
				70400

In 1924 he ran the finals of the 1.500 m and 5.000 m with only 26 minutes interval. He also wanted to compete in the 800m and the 10km, but he was not allowed to run these by his federation. Other Finnish athletes finished 1,3 and 4, but it is said that even while Ville Ritola was winning the 10 km in a world record time of 30.23.2, Nurmi was on a training run over the same distance, which he completed in 29 min 58 sec. Nurmi did set an official world record of 30.06.2 later on, and that was to last 13 years.
Two days after his two gold medals, the cross-country was run. It would be called the heat battle at Colombes. 23 out of 38 competitors did not complete the race, but Nurmi kept his cool and won with ease. The next day, while most other competitors were still in hospital, Nurmi was back on the track to win his fifrth gold medal of the 1924 games (the.team race).
The fourth gold medal at Paris was the team cross-country race. Nurmi thanked that gold to Heikki Liimatainen, who finished in eighth place despite needing two minutes to cover the final 30 meters, yet another victim of the heat.
Nurmi always ran with a stopwatch and was very dissapointed when at Amsterdam he fell during the semi final of the steeple-chase and damaged his watch in the water jump. Frenchman Lucien Duquesne helped him get up and Nurmi thanked him by shepherding him to the tape, even offering him the first place, which the Frenchman declined.
Nurmi wanted to compete in Los Angeles, but was barred from doing so over allegations of professionalism. This embittered him, and the decision was not upheld in Finland, where he was allowed to continue competing.
He set 22 world records in his career, from 1500m to 20 km.
He carried the torch into the Olympic stadium in 1952. There is a statue for him outside the Helsinki stadium.

Ruslan Nurudinov

Written 2002-08-02 - last modified 2022-03-05

This page is part of the site "Full Olympians" by Herman De Wael. See here for a full Introduction.