Gustav Sule (10 September 1910 – 3 April 1942) was an

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the ...

er. He won bronze in the 1934 European Championships, competed in 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 ...

and at one point ranked second on the all-time world list.

Biography

Sule was born in

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after the Northern European country's political and financial capital, Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 91,407 (as of 2021). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of ...

on 10 September 1910. In 1928 he set Estonian high school records not only in the javelin, but also

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

and

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...

. Before Sule the Estonian record in the javelin was

Aleksander Klumberg Aleksander Klumberg (since 1936 Kolmpere; 17 April 1899 – 10 February 1958) was an Estonian decathlete. He competed in several events at the 1920 and 1924 Olympics and won a bronze medal in the decathlon in 1924. In 1922 he became the first of ...

's 63.32 from 1921; starting in 1930, Sule broke the record six times officially and twice unofficially. In 1931 he threw 69.54, ranking him second in the world that year behind former

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 organization ...

holder

Eino Penttilä Eino Penttilä (27 August 1906 – 24 November 1982) was a Finnish javelin thrower who won a bronze medal at the 1932 Summer Olympics, behind teammates Matti Järvinen and Matti Sippala. Career Penttlä was a Biathlon competitor who changed ...

. Sule remained one of the world's top throwers in 1932, improving his Estonian record to 69.62. He would have been a medal contender in the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, but the

Estonian Olympic Committee The Estonian Olympic Committee ( et, Eesti Olümpiakomitee) (EOK) is responsible for the Estonia's participation in the Olympic Games. History The Estonian Sports Federation ( et, Eesti Spordi Liit) decided to form the Estonian Olympic Committe ...

didn't have enough money for the long trip and Sule, like other Estonian athletes such as Arnold Viiding, had to stay home. Sule failed to improve his Estonian record in 1933, but his best throw of 69.30 still ranked him fourth in the world that year. At the 1933 International University Games in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

he won the silver medal, losing to Hungary's

József Várszegi József Várszegi (also known as József Vennesz; 7 September 1910, in Győr – 12 June 1977, in Budapest) was a Hungarian athlete who competed in the javelin throw. Among his best results are a European Championships bronze medal from 1938 and ...

but defeating Germany's Gottfried Weimann, who had placed fourth at the Olympics. Sule broke through the 70 m barrier in 1934, improving his Estonian record to 71.48 and again placing second on the annual world list. At the inaugural

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

that summer, also held in Turin, he threw 69.31 and placed third behind the top two from the 1932 Olympics, Finland's

Matti Järvinen Matti Henrikki Järvinen (18 February 1909 – 22 July 1985) was a Finnish javelin thrower. He won the Olympic gold medal at the 1932 Summer Olympics ahead of two other Finns, Matti Sippala and Eino Penttilä, with a throw of 72.71 metres. F ...

and Matti Sippala; he was named Estonia's top athlete that year by the Tallinn Sports Press Club. Sule failed to regain that shape for the next two years, only ranking sixteenth on the world list in 1935 and eleventh in 1936, although he still won a bronze medal at the 1935 International University Games. He competed in the

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, but only managed 63.26 and an eleventh place. In 1937 he again broke the Estonian record twice, throwing 72.72 in August and 73.31 in October, and ranked fourth on that year's world list. Sule set his eventual personal best in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

on 20 June 1938, throwing 75.935 m. At the time, that was enough to place him second on the all-time world list, behind only world record holder Järvinen; Yrjö Nikkanen pushed him down to third when he twice broke the world record later that year, but Sule stayed in the all-time top five until 1953. At the

in September 1938 he threw 70.50 m and placed fourth behind Järvinen, Nikkanen and Várszegi, beating his Estonian teammate Friedrich Issak by one place. Between 1928 and 1940, Sule was Estonian champion nine times in the javelin and once in the high jump, and won minor medals in the pole vault,

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 ...

hammer throw The hammer throw is one of the four throwing events in regular track and field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and javelin. The "hammer" used in this sport is not like any of the tools also called by that name. It consis ...

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 ...

. Weakened by

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

, he died on 3 April 1942 while serving in an NKVD labor column.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sule, Gustav 1910 births 1942 deaths Athletes from Tartu People from the Governorate of Livonia Estonian male javelin throwers Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Estonia European Athletics Championships medalists Estonian people who died in Soviet detention People who died in the Gulag Deaths from pneumonia in Russia Deaths from pneumonia in the Soviet Union