Elmer Niklander

Elmer Niklander at the 1912 Olympic Games

Elmer Konstantin Niklander (born January 19, 1890 in Oitti , Hausjärvi , † November 12, 1942 in Helsinki ) was a Finnish athlete . His main disciplines were the shot put and discus throw , whereby the two-handed competitions (in which one has to throw once with the stronger and once with the weaker hand; both distances were added) suited him better. At the Olympic Games , he won four medals in four Olympics. The farmer and firefighter was called Oitin kanuunaksi (German cannon from Oitti) in his homeland .

successes

At the Olympic Games in Stockholm in 1912 , Niklander won bronze in a two-handed shot put and silver in a two-handed discus throw. The Swedish sports philosophy that a person should train his body evenly also had an impact on the competition program at that time: In the throwing competitions, two techniques were used (throwing with the stronger hand and throwing with both hands).

Eight years later in Antwerp , Niklander won gold in the “normal” discus throw and silver in the shot put. At the age of 18 he took part in the 1908 Olympic Games in London . In 1924 in Paris he also started again, but could not win a medal.

Personal bests and Finnish championships

Elmer Niklander not only took part in ball or discus decisions, he also practiced the less known weight throwing (25.4 kilograms), javelin throw, the two-handed javelin throw, hammer throw and the discus throw in the ancient style. So it happened that Niklander was Finnish champion 44 times between 1909 and 1924. He won half of these titles in the two-handed shot put and discus throw. He achieved all of his personal bests between 1913 and 1916, at the time when the Olympic Games were canceled due to the First World War . In 1913 he set a world record in two-handed and antique style (90.13 and 41.57 m).

• Shot put: 14.86 m (July 19, 1913 in Helsinki)
• Discus throw: 47.18 m (July 16, 1916 in Vaasa)
• Stone throw (25.4 kg): 10.76 m (1914 in Malmö)
• Hammer throw: 47.57 m (June 12, 1916 in Kuopio)
• Javelin throw: 54.19 m (2016)

Web links

• Elmer Niklander in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Sports career (Finnish) ( Memento from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive )