Eero Reino Lehtonen (21 April 1898 – 9 November 1959) was a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

athlete. He competed at the 1920 Olympics in the

pentathlon A pentathlon is a contest featuring five events. The name is derived from Greek: combining the words ''pente'' (five) and -''athlon'' (competition) ( gr, πένταθλον). The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of t ...

, long jump and

decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in Athletics (sport), athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek language, Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ...

and at the 1924 Olympics in the pentathlon and 4 × 400 m relay. He won the pentathlon at both Games, but performed poorly in other events. He retired after learning that pentathlon was excluded from the 1928 Olympics. In 1920 Lehtonen won the national titles in the pentathlon and long jump, setting a new national long jump record at 7.02 m. At the 1920 Olympics he tried decathlon, but gave up after five events. He semi-retired after the Olympics, but returned in 1922, again winning the national long jump and pentathlon titles. At the 1924 Olympic pentathlon competition Robert LeGendre set a world record in the long jump, but Lehtonen did better on average and won the gold medal. In 1984, a bronze statue of Lehtonen was installed at the sports park in

Mikkeli Mikkeli (; sv, S:t Michel; la, Michaelia) is a town and municipality in Finland. It is located in what used to be the province of Eastern Finland and is part of the Etelä-Savo region. The municipality has a population of () (around 34,000 i ...

, his home town.

References

1898 births 1959 deaths Sportspeople from Mikkeli People from Mikkeli Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Finnish pentathletes Finnish decathletes Olympic athletes for Finland Olympic gold medalists for Finland Athletes (track and field) at the 1920 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1924 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1924 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1920 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic decathletes {{Finland-athletics-bio-stub