Ville Ritola

Information about Ville Ritola

Men's Athletics
Olympic medalist
Ville Ritola
Medal record
Gold	1924 Paris	10000m
Gold	1924 Paris	3000m steeplechase
Gold	1924 Paris	3000m team
Gold	1924 Paris	Cross country team
Gold	1928 Amsterdam	5000m
Silver	1924 Paris	5000m
Silver	1924 Paris	Cross country individual
Silver	1928 Amsterdam	10000m

Vilho ("Ville") Eino Ritola (January 18, 1896 – April 24, 1982) was a Finnish athlete, specialised in the long distance events. In the 1920s, he won 8 Olympic medals. He was internationally known as one of the "Flying Finns".

Born in Peräseinäjoki, Finland, Ville Ritola, nicknamed as Peräseinäjoen Susi (The Wolf from Peräseinäjoki), emigrated to United States at the age of 17, to join his seven sisters, who had emigrated earlier.

In the United States, Ritola joined the Finnish-American Athletic Club and trained together with Hannes Kolehmainen, who had moved to the United States after the 1912 Summer Olympics. Kolehmainen tried to convince young Ritola to join the Finnish 1920 Summer Olympics team, but Ritola said, he isn't ready yet.

But he was ready at the 1924 Paris Olympics by winning four gold medals and two silver medals. In his first race, the 10 000 m, in absence of Paavo Nurmi, he won by half a lap and obliterated his own world record by more than 12 seconds. Three days later, he won the 3000 m steeplechase by 75 metres. The next day he finished second behind Nurmi in the 5000 m. Next he earned another silver medal behind Nurmi in the cross-country race and gained a gold medal as a member of the Finnish cross-country team. Finally, Ritola joined with Nurmi to win the 3000 m team race.

In the 1928 Summer Olympics, Ritola placed second in the 10 000 m, behind Nurmi. His last Olympic appearance was in the 5000 m. This time Ritola pulled away from Nurmi in the final curve and won by 12 metres. This victory brought Ritola's career total to five gold medals and three silver medals.

Ritola never competed in the Finnish Nationals, but won a handful of medals in AAU Championships in United States. He was the AAU champion at 6 miles in 1927, at 10 miles road race in 1922, 1923 and from 1925 to 1927, at 2000 yd steeplechase in 1923, 1926 and 1927 and at cross county in 1922, 1923 and from 1925 to 1927.

Ville Ritola retired from athletics after the 1928 Olympic Games. He moved back to Finland in 1971. Ville Ritola died in Helsinki at the age of 86.

Ritola's career inspired a phrase into colloquial Finnish. "Ottaa ritolat", translating as something like "pull a Ritola", means to make a quick exit from somewhere.

Olympic champions in men's 5000 m

• • [ e] Olympic champions in men's 5 miles and 10000 m

As five miles: 1906: Henry Hawtrey | 1908: Emil Voigt

Olympic champions in men's 3000 m steeplechase

Records
Preceded by Paavo Nurmi	Men's 10.000m World Record Holder May 25, 1924 – August 31, 1924	Succeeded by Paavo Nurmi

Athletics, known as Track and Field in the United States, has been contested at every Summer Olympics since the birth of the modern Olympic movement at the 1896 Summer Olympics.

Events

The events contested have varied widely.
..... Click the link for more information.

The 1924 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the VIII Olympiad, were held in 1924 in Paris, France. The home town of Pierre de Coubertin which had already hosted the 1900 Games was chosen over bids of Amsterdam, Berlin, Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro and Rome.
..... Click the link for more information.

At the 1924 Summer Olympics held in Paris, 27 athletics events were contested, all for men only.

Medal summary

Event Gold Silver Bronze
100 metres Harold Abrahams
Great Britain
..... Click the link for more information.

The 1928 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the IX Olympiad, were held in 1928 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Amsterdam had made a bid for the 1920 and 1924 Olympic Games, but had to give way to war-victim Belgium and De Coubertin's Paris before finally being
..... Click the link for more information.

At the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, 27 athletics events were contested. For the first time, women's events in athletics were included in the Olympic Games program.
..... Click the link for more information.

founded Lima, the capital of Peru.

1562 - Pope Pius IV reopens the Council of Trent for its third and final session.

1670 - Henry Morgan captures Panama.

1701 - Frederick I becomes King of Prussia.
..... Click the link for more information.

18th century - 19th century - 20th century
1860s 1870s 1880s - 1890s - 1900s 1910s 1920s
1893 1894 1895 - 1896 - 1897 1898 1899

:
Subjects: Archaeology - Architecture -
..... Click the link for more information.

April 24 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining.

Events

..... Click the link for more information.

19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1950s 1960s 1970s - 1980s - 1990s 2000s 2010s
1979 1980 1981 - 1982 - 1983 1984 1985

Year 1982 (MCMLXXXII
..... Click the link for more information.

Anthem
Maamme (Finnish)
Vårt land (Swedish)
Our Land
..... Click the link for more information.

Athletics, also known as track and field or track and field athletics, is a collection of sports events that involve running, throwing and jumping. The name is derived from the Greek word "athlon" meaning "contest".
..... Click the link for more information.

For long track speedskating, see .

Long-distance track event races require runners to balance their energy. Because these types of races are very energy-consuming, one requires mental determination and aerobic conditioning, since stamina is a
..... Click the link for more information.

Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century

1890s 1900s 1910s - 1920s - 1930s 1940s 1950s
1920 1921 1922 1923 1924
1925 1926 1927 1928 1929

- -
..... Click the link for more information.

Olympic Games (often referred to simply as The Olympics or The Games^[1]) is an international multi-sport event subdivided into summer and winter sporting events. The summer and winter games are each held every four years (an Olympiad^[2]).
..... Click the link for more information.

"The Flying Finn" was a nickname given to several Finnish middle and long-distance runners. The term has such international renown that it is often attached to notable Finnish sportsmen whose exploits are fleet of foot or have to do with fast cars.
..... Click the link for more information.

Peräseinäjoki is a former municipality of Finland.

It was located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Southern Ostrobothnia region. The municipality had a population of 3,653 (2004) and covered an area of 459.13 km² of which 14.11 km² was water.
..... Click the link for more information.

Motto
"In God We Trust" (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum" ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
..... Click the link for more information.

Olympic medalist

Hannes Kolehmainen
Medal record

Men's Athletics
Gold 1912 Stockholm 5000 metres
Gold 1912 Stockholm 10000 metres
Gold 1912 Stockholm Individual cross country
Gold 1920 Antwerp Marathon
Silver
..... Click the link for more information.

The 1912 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad, were held in 1912 in Stockholm, Sweden. For the first time, competitors in the Games came from all five continents symbolized in the Olympic rings.
..... Click the link for more information.

The 1920 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad, were held in 1920 in Antwerp, Belgium. The 1920 Games were awarded to Antwerp to honor the suffering that had been inflicted on the Belgian people during the war.
..... Click the link for more information.

Olympic medalist

Paavo Nurmi
Medal record

Men's athletics
Gold 1920 Antwerp 10000 m
Gold 1920 Antwerp 8000 m cross country
Gold 1920 Antwerp 8000 m cross country team
Gold 1924 Paris 1500 m
Gold
..... Click the link for more information.

world record progression for the Men's 10,000 metres, as recognised by the IAAF.

Record Athlete Nat Venue Date
31:20.8 ^[1] Hannes Kolehmainen Finland Stockholm, Sweden July 8 1912
30:58.
..... Click the link for more information.

second (SI symbol: s), sometimes abbreviated sec., is the name of a unit of time, and is the International System of Units (SI) base unit of time.

SI prefixes are frequently combined with the word second to denote subdivisions of the second, e.g.
..... Click the link for more information.

1 metre =
SI units
1000 mm 0 cm
US customary / Imperial units
0 ft 0 in

The metre or meter^[1](symbol: m) is the fundamental unit of length in the International System of Units (SI).
..... Click the link for more information.

The Amateur Athletic Union, widely known as the AAU, was formed in 1888 to sponsor US teams and players in a wide variety of sports, and has sponsored many tournaments throughout the United States.
..... Click the link for more information.

1 mile =
SI units
0 m 0 km
US customary / Imperial units
0 ft 0 yd

“Miles” redirects here. For other uses, see Miles (disambiguation).

..... Click the link for more information.

20th century - 21st century
1890s 1900s 1910s - 1920s - 1930s 1940s 1950s
1924 1925 1926 - 1927 - 1928 1929 1930

Year 1927 (MCMXXVII
..... Click the link for more information.

19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1890s 1900s 1910s - 1920s - 1930s 1940s 1950s
1919 1920 1921 - 1922 - 1923 1924 1925

Year 1922 (MCMXXII
..... Click the link for more information.

This article is copied from an article on Wikipedia.org - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of the wikipedia encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License.

Herod_Archelaus

iPedia Free Information Center

Ville Ritola

Information about Ville Ritola

Events

Medal summary

Events