Lauri Lehtinen

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Lauri Lehtinen, 1931

Lauri Aleksanteri Lehtinen (born August 10, 1908 in Porvoo , Finland , † December 4, 1973 in Helsinki ) was a Finnish athlete and 1932 Olympic champion over 5000 meters at the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles .

Two weeks before the Olympic Games, on June 19, 1932, Lauri Lehtinen in Helsinki improved Paavo Nurmi's eight-year-old world record over 5000 m by 11 seconds to 14: 17.0 and was thus the favorite for the Olympic victory over this distance.

At the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1932 , Lehtinen started over 5000 meters. In the final, he and his compatriot Lauri Virtanen took the lead early on. They intended to shake off all of their other opponents, which they almost succeeded. Only one thing persisted: the American Ralph Hill . A little later the race turned into a real battle between Lehtinen and Hill. On the final lap, Hill attacked Lehtinen and was about to overtake him. Lehtinen prevented this by zigzagging Hill from one lane to the other. Although a common tactic in Europe, it was unfamiliar, especially for American audiences. So frustrated, Lehtinen booed. Lauri Lehtinen narrowly won, Ralph Hill set the same time of 14: 30.0 minutes. It was the only Olympic race whose distance was longer than 200 meters, in which the first two achieved identical times.

The judges were initially unsure whether Lauri Lehtinen was disabled. Therefore, the award ceremony did not take place until 24 hours later. To the delight of the audience, both athletes made conciliatory gestures when they exchanged their team badges.

At the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin , Lehtinen could not defend his title and finished the race in second behind his compatriot Gunnar Höckert .

In 1940 Lehtinen dedicated his gold medal to a soldier. It was a gesture of Lehtinen's respect for Gunnar Höckert, who had volunteered for service in the Finnish army and who had died fighting as a reserve lieutenant in the winter war against the Soviet Union on the day before his 30th birthday in Karelia .

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personal data
SURNAME Lehtinen, Lauri
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lehtinen, Lauri Aleksanteri
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Finnish athlete
DATE OF BIRTH August 10, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Porvoo
DATE OF DEATH 4th December 1973
Place of death Helsinki