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Nurmi was seven seconds slower than in his world record run in 1925, and it was immediately speculated if the mile had become too short a distance for him.
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Nurmi and was
Criswell's undead consort, the sexy Black Ghoul, was written for Maila Nurmi, a. k. a. Vampira, but was instead played by Fawn Silver, who wore a black bouffant wig.
Paavo Johannes Nurmi () ( 13 June 1897 – 2 October 1973 ) was a Finnish middle and long distance runner.
At his peak, Nurmi was undefeated at distances from 800 m upwards for 121 races.
At the 1928 Summer Olympics, Nurmi recaptured the 10, 000 m title but was beaten to the gold in the 5, 000 m and the 3, 000 m steeplechase.
In a controversial case that strained Finland – Sweden relations and sparked an inter-IAAF battle, Nurmi was suspended before the 1932 Games by an IAAF council that questioned his amateur status.
Nurmi was born in Turku, Finland, to carpenter Johan Fredrik Nurmi and his wife Matilda Wilhelmiina Laine.
At the age of 15, Nurmi rekindled his interest in athletics after being inspired by the performances of Hannes Kolehmainen, who was said to " have run Finland onto the map of the world " at the 1912 Summer Olympics.
As the unit commander Hugo Österman was a known sports aficionado, Nurmi and few other athletes were given free time to practice.
Nurmi, however, was given a scholarship to study at the Teollisuuskoulu industrial school in Helsinki.
His only challenger, Ray Watson of the United States, gave up before the last lap and Nurmi was able to slow down and coast to victory ahead of Willy Schärer, Henry Stallard and Douglas Lowe, still breaking the Olympic record by three seconds.
Realizing that he was now racing the two men and not the clock, Nurmi tossed his stopwatch onto the grass.
Nurmi had won five gold medals in five events, but he left the Games embittered as the Finnish officials had allocated races between their star runners and prevented him from defending his title in the 10, 000 m, the distance that was dearest to him.
Although he hated losing more than anything, Nurmi was the first to congratulate Helffrich.
Nurmi was furious at the Swedes and vowed never to race Eklöf again.
At the 1928 Olympic trials, Nurmi was left third in the 1, 500 m by eventual gold and bronze medalists Harri Larva and Eino Purje, and he decided to concentrate on the longer distances.
It was customary of the IAAF to accept the final decision of its national branch, and the Associated Press wrote that " there is little doubt that if the Finnish federation clears Nurmi the international body will accept its decision without question.
Nurmi was hopeful that his suspension would be lifted in time for the Games.
Sigfrid Edström, president of the IAAF and chairman of its executive council, stated that the full congress of the IAAF, which was scheduled to start the next day, could not reinstate Nurmi for the Olympics but merely review the phases and political angles related to the case.
Details of the case were not released to the press, but the evidence against Nurmi was believed be the sworn statements from German race promoters that Nurmi had received $ 250 – 500 per race when running in Germany in autumn 1931.
The congress concluded without Nurmi being declared a professional, but the council's authority to disbar an athlete was upheld on a 13 – 12 vote.
Nurmi and seven
Less than three days before the 10, 000 m, a special commission of the IAAF, consisting of the same seven members that had suspended Nurmi, rejected the Finn's entries and barred him from competing in Los Angeles.
Some of the most outstanding athletes from the past include Hannes Kolehmainen ( 1890 – 1966 ), Paavo Nurmi ( 1897 – 1973 ) and Ville Ritola ( 1896 – 1982 ) who won eighteen gold and seven silver Olympic medals in the 1910s and 1920s.
Nurmi and seconds
In the 1, 500 m final at the Olympics in Paris, Nurmi ran the first 800 m almost three seconds faster.
On the famous race on 11 July 1957 when the " three Olavis " ( Salsola, Salonen and Vuorisalo ) broke the world record for the 1, 500 m, Matti Nurmi finished a distant ninth with his personal best, 2. 2 seconds slower than his father's world record from 1924.
In his first race, the 10 000 m, in the absence of Paavo Nurmi, he won by half a lap and obliterated his own world record by more than 12 seconds.
On the final curve Guillemot moved to pass Nurmi on the outside and, unaccustomed to final stretch sprinting, Nurmi gives up completely and jogs to the finish line four seconds after the winner has broken the tape.
Loukola won with a new world record of 9. 21. 8, finishing almost 10 seconds ahead of second-placed Nurmi.
Nurmi and than
The 5, 000 m final started in less than two hours, and Nurmi faced a tough challenge from countryman Ville Ritola, who had already won the 3, 000 m steeplechase and the 10, 000 m. Ritola and Edvin Wide figured that Nurmi must be tired and tried to burn him off by running at world-record pace.
Nurmi, looking more exhausted than ever before, only barely managed to keep Wide behind and take silver.
Less than three weeks later, Nurmi retired from running with a 10, 000 m victory in Viipuri on 16 September 1934.
Acclaimed the biggest sporting figure in the world at his peak, Nurmi was averse to publicity and the media, stating later on his 75th birthday that " worldly fame and reputation are worth less than a rotten lingonberry.
Nurmi was more responsive to his fellow athletes than to the media.
" Cordner Nelson, founder of Track & Field News, credited Nurmi for popularizing running as a spectator sport: " His imprint on the track world was greater than any man ’ s before or after.
Twenty world records have been set at the stadium, including John Landy's records on the 1, 500 m and the mile, Nurmi's record on the 3, 000 m and Zátopek's record on the 10, 000 m. In fiction, Nurmi appears in William Goldman's 1974 novel Marathon Man as the idol of the protagonist, who aims to become a greater runner than Nurmi.
Nurmi and world
Nurmi set 22 official world records at distances between 1, 500 metres and 20 kilometres, and won a total of nine gold and three silver medals in his twelve events in the Olympic Games.
In 1923, Nurmi became the first, and so far only, runner to hold the mile, the 5, 000 m and the 10, 000 m world records at the same time.
Nurmi set his first world record on the 10, 000 m in Stockholm in 1921.
In 1922, he broke the world records for the 2, 000 m, the 3, 000 m and the 5, 000 m. A year later, Nurmi added the records for the 1, 500 m and the mile.
On 19 June, Nurmi tried out the 1924 Olympic schedule by running the 1, 500 m and the 5, 000 m inside an hour, setting new world records for both distances.
After returning to Finland, Nurmi set a 10, 000 m world record that would last for almost 13 years.
Nurmi defeated Joie Ray and Lloyd Hahn to win the mile and Ritola to win the 5, 000 m, again setting new world records for both distances.
Nurmi broke ten more indoor world records in regular events and set several new best times for rarer distances.
In 1926, Nurmi broke Wide's world record for the 3, 000 m in Berlin and then improved the record in Stockholm, despite Nils Eklöf repeatedly trying to slow his pace down in an effort to aid Wide.
In July 1931, Nurmi showed he still had pace for the shorter distances by beating Lauri Lehtinen, Lauri Virtanen and Volmari Iso-Hollo, and breaking the world record on the now-rare two miles.
During the debate over his amateur status, Nurmi was joked to have " the lowest heartbeat and the highest asking price of any athlete in the world.
Nurmi broke 22 official world records on distances between 1, 500 m and 20 km ; a record in running.
Peter Lovesey wrote in The Kings of Distance: A Study of Five Great Runners that Nurmi " accelerated the progress of world records ; developed and actually came to personify the analytic approach to running ; and he was a profound influence not only in Finland, but throughout the world of athletics.
* Saïd Aouita, was ranked among the world's best at all distances between 800 metres and 5000 m in the 1980s, a gold medalist at the 1984 Olympics, and like Nurmi, was the world record holder for 1500 m, 3: 29. 46 in 1985, and 5000 m, 13: 00. 40 in 1985 and 12: 58. 39 in 1987
* Paavo Nurmi, Finnish, Regarded as the greatest track and field athlete of all time and winner of nine Olympic gold medals ( despite missing 1932 games in a professional controversy over travel expenses ), setting world records at distances between 1500 m and 20 km, and one of the Flying Finns
0.223 seconds.