Pauli Nevala

Pauli Nevala

Pauli Nevala ( Pauli Lauri Nevala ; born November 30, 1940 in Pohja ) is a Finnish javelin thrower and Olympic champion .

He suffered eye damage in a serious car accident in Mexico in 1964 , so he was unable to exercise until August. At the Olympic Games in Tokyo he still won the gold medal with 82.66 meters. In 1968 in Mexico City he was eliminated in the qualification, but in 1969 he was able to show worldwide best performances again. In 48 competitions he threw 41 times further than 80 meters, 20 throws were even beyond 85 meters. In 1970 he came 82 times over 80 meters, 30 times over 85 meters and even five times over 90 meters. His best performance was 92.64 meters.

After declaring in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet in 1970 that he would receive at least 800 Swedish kronor for each of his starts , IOC President Avery Brundage opened a case against him for violating amateur rules. After a shoulder injury at a competition in Abidjan , he had to retire from his sporting career and the case against him was also dropped.

Nevala was self-taught , but trained the sprinter Antti Rajamäki after his career ended . Today he is the district sports officer responsible for the youth of Teuva .

Web links

• Pauli Nevala in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )