Armas Toivonen
Armas Toivonen ( Armas Adam Toivonen ; born January 20, 1899 in Halikko , † September 12, 1973 in Helsinki ) was a Finnish marathon runner who was the first European champion in this discipline in 1934.
At the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Paavo Nurmi actually wanted to compete in the marathon, which was to represent Finland together with Ville Kyronen and Toivonen. Nurmi was not allowed to compete due to a violation of the amateur conditions, so Lauri Virtanen was reported as the third Finn . The Argentine Juan Carlos Zabala took the lead early on. Halfway through the race, Zabala was leading in front of Virtanen and Toivonen. At 30 km the marathon debutant Virtanen passed Zabala, but had to retire at 37 km. Zabala won the race ahead of Briton Sam Ferris and Toivonen, who was 36 seconds behind gold after 2:32:12 hours.
In the marathon of the European Championships in Turin in 1934 , 15 runners competed, of which only nine made it to the finish line in the stifling heat. Toivonen started the race slowly and only overtook leading Swede Thore Enochsson at kilometer 30 ; in the end he won in 2:52:29 hours by over two minutes over the Swedes.
Armas Toivonen was 1.71 m tall and weighed 59 kg during his playing days.
literature
- Walter Mallmann: Olympic marathon. Mainz 1993, ISBN 3-9803182-4-9
- Ekkehard zur Megede: The Modern Olympic Century 1896-1996 Track and Field Athletics. Berlin 1999 (published by the German Society for Athletics Documentation eV )
Web links
- Armas Toivonen in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Toivonen, Armas |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Toivonen, Armas Adam (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Finnish marathon runner |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 20, 1899 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Halikko |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 12, 1973 |
| Place of death | Helsinki |