Paavo Nurmi

Paavo Johannes Nurmi June 1897 October 1973 was a Finnish middle and longdistance runner. He was nicknamed the Flying Finn as he dominated distance running in the early 20th century. Nurmi setofficial world records at distances between 1500 metres and 20160kilometres, and won nine gold and three silver medals in his twelve events in the Olympic Games. At his peak, Nurmi was undefeated at distances from 800 m upwards for 121 races. Throughout his 14year career, he remained unbeaten in cross country events and the 10,000 m.

Nurmi was born in Turku, Finland, to carpenter Johan Fredrik Nurmi and his wife Matilda Wilhelmiina Laine. Nurmis siblings, Siiri, Saara, Martti and Lahja, were born in 1898, 1902, 1905 and 1908, respectively. In 1903, the Nurmi family moved from Raunistula into a 40squaremeter apartment in central Turku, where Paavo Nurmi would live until 1932. The young Nurmi and his friends were inspired by the English longdistance runner Alfred Shrubb. They regularly ran or walked six kilometres to swim in Ruissalo, and back, sometimes twice a day. By the age of eleven, Nurmi ran the 1500 metres in 502. Nurmis father Johan died in 1910 and his sister Lahja a year later. The family struggled financially, renting out their kitchen to another family and living in a single room. Nurmi, a talented student, left school to work as an errand boy for a bakery. Although he stopped running actively, he got plenty of exercise pushing heavy carts up the steep slopes in Turku. He later credited these climbs for

Source: Wikipedia