Lauri Pihkala
Lauri Pihkala 
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| nation |
 Grand Duchy of Finland
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| birthday | January 5, 1888 |
| place of birth | Pihtipudas , Finland |
| size | 179 cm |
| Weight | 79 kg |
| date of death | May 20, 1981 |
| Place of death | Helsinki , Finland |
| Career | |
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| discipline | Middle distance run , high jump , discus throw |
| Best performance | 800 m: 1: 58.1 min; High jump: 1.75 m; Discus: 31.40 m |
| society | HKV Helsinki |
Lauri Pihkala (born Lauri Gummerus on January 5, 1888 in Pihtipudas , Finland , † May 20, 1981 in Helsinki ) was a Finnish athlete and inventor of Pesäpallo , a Finnish variant of baseball .
Lauri Pihkala, nicknamed Tahko , had been called up as a track and field athlete in the Finnish Olympic team that competed in the 1908 Olympic Games in London . Pihkala took part in the discus throw and in the high jump . In the high jump he finished 16th out of 22 participants. The result of the discus throw is unknown.
Pihkala also traveled to Stockholm for the 1912 Olympic Games . Here he competed in the 800 meter run , but could not finish his run.
In the years that followed, Pihkala became Finland's first professional athletics coach. In this role he also worked for the Finnish Army. In the Finnish Civil War in 1918 he joined the Suojeluskunta , a paramilitary militia, and was responsible for the organization's propaganda. Politically, Pihkala was a right-wing activist. He advocated eugenics to strengthen the military capabilities of the Finns.
Due to his interest in sports, Pihkala was involved in the development of various sports activities. In the 1920s, for example, he developed the baseball- like team game Pesäpallo , which today has fans not only in Finland , but is also played in Sweden , Estonia , Germany , Switzerland , the United Kingdom , Japan and Australia .
In 1969 Lauri Pihkala was awarded an honorary doctorate in sports science from Jyväskylä University .
Web links
- Lauri Pihkala in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Pihkala, Lauri |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Gummerus, Lauri (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Finnish athlete |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 5, 1888 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Pihtipudas , Finland |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 20, 1981 |
| Place of death | Helsinki |