Gunnar Mikael Höckert (12 February 1910 – 11 February 1940) was a Finnish runner, winner of the 5000 m race at the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XI Olympiad () and officially branded as Berlin 1936, were an international multi-sport event held from 1 to 16 August 1936 in Berlin, then capital of Nazi Germany. Berlin won the bid to ...

Biography

Born in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

to a wealthy family, Gunnar Höckert had only one great season, in 1936. The 5000 m final at the

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Olympics The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competit ...

started in a good pace. The tempo was dictated by American

Donald Lash Donald Ray Lash (August 15, 1912 – September 19, 1994) was an American long-distance runner who won 12 national titles from 1934 to 1940, including seven consecutive men's national Cross country running, cross-country championships, and w ...

, but he was overtaken by three Finns after 2,000 m. Soon the race turned into a battle between Höckert and defending Olympic Champion and world record holder

Lauri Lehtinen Lauri Aleksanteri Lehtinen (10 August 1908 – 4 December 1973) was a Finnish long-distance runner and the winner of a controversial 5000 m race at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Lehtinen set a new world record in the 5000 m (14:17.0 ...

. In the last lap Höckert overran Lehtinen to win in a world's season best time of 14:22.2. In this same race Swedish

Henry Jonsson John Henry Jonsson (12 May 1912 – 9 March 2001) was a Swedish runner who won a bronze medal over 5000 m at the 1936 Summer Olympics. He finished second at the 1938 European Championships. In 1940 he changed his name to Henry Kälarne, and was ...

got third place over Kohei Murakoso, the Japanese runner who was leading the race at the beginning. Later on that season, on 16 September in Stockholm, Höckert ran a new

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

in 3,000 m (8:14.8). A week later, on the same track, Höckert ran a new world record in 2 miles (8:57.4) and another week later, he equalled the

Jules Ladoumegue Jules is the French form of the Latin "Julius" (e.g. Jules César, the French name for Julius Caesar). In the anglosphere, it is also used for females although it is still a predominantly masculine name.One of the few notable examples of a femal ...

's 2,000 m world record of 5:21.8 in

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

. The rest of Höckert's athletics career was hampered by

rheumatism Rheumatism or rheumatic disorders are conditions causing chronic, often intermittent pain affecting the joints or connective tissue. Rheumatism does not designate any specific disorder, but covers at least 200 different conditions, including a ...

, and he never again achieved the times he had run in 1936. He went to the

Winter War The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peac ...

as a

volunteer Volunteering is an elective and freely chosen act of an individual or group giving their time and labor, often for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency ...

, progressing to 2nd lieutenant. He was killed during the Winter War in

Johannes Johannes is a Medieval Latin form of the personal name that usually appears as " John" in English language contexts. It is a variant of the Greek and Classical Latin variants (Ιωάννης, '' Ioannes''), itself derived from the Hebrew name '' Y ...

on the

Karelian Isthmus The Karelian Isthmus (; ; ) is the approximately stretch of land situated between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga in northwestern Russia, to the north of the River Neva. Its northwestern boundary is a line from the Bay of Vyborg to the we ...

, just one day before his thirtieth birthday.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hockert, Gunnar 1910 births 1940 deaths Burials at Hietaniemi Cemetery Athletes from Helsinki Sportspeople from Uusimaa Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Swedish-speaking Finns Finnish male middle-distance runners Finnish male long-distance runners Finnish male steeplechase runners Olympic athletes for Finland Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Finland World record setters in athletics (track and field) Finnish military personnel killed in World War II Medalists at the 1936 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) 20th-century Finnish sportsmen