Arnold Viiding (19 March 1911 in Valga, Estonia – 20 October 2006 in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia) was an Estonian

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

ter and discus thrower. At the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-sp ...

, he achieved eighth place in the shot put event with 15.23 metres.

Biography

Viiding graduated from the Tallinn Police School in 1932 and worked as a policeman. In 1936, he joined the academic corporation

Fraternitas Estica Fraternitas Estica is an all-male academic corporation at the University of Tartu, Estonia. It was founded in 1907. History 1900. In August vil! dr. Aleksander Paldrok makes a proposal at Estonian Students' Society's general assembly to prop ...

. In 1940, he graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Tartu. After the Nazi occupation in 1941 during the Second World War, Viiding served as the chief of the police school of the

Estonian Security Police The Estonian Internal Security Service ( et, Kaitsepolitsei, officially et, Kaitsepolitseiamet, KaPo for short) is a central national security institution of Republic of Estonia. Its purposes are centered on enforcing constitutional order. Th ...

. In 1944, Viiding fled the Soviet occupation of Estonia and emigrated first to Germany and in 1949 to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Along with other Estonians, he established a plastics factory, "Arnolds Plastics".

References

External links

* * * 1911 births 2006 deaths Sportspeople from Valga, Estonia People from the Governorate of Livonia Estonian male shot putters Estonian male discus throwers Olympic athletes for Estonia Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics Athletes from Sydney European Athletics Championships medalists Estonian World War II refugees {{Estonia-athletics-bio-stub