Joonas "Jonni" Myyrä (13 July 1892 – 22 January 1955) 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 who competed at the 1912, 1920 and 1924 Olympics. In 1912, he finished eighth in the javelin throw. At the 1920 Olympics his left arm was fractured in a warm-up accident – the spear thrown by James Lincoln struck Myyrä while he was resting on the grass. Nevertheless, Myyrä won the javelin event with an Olympic record of 65.78 meters. He also finished 12th in the discus throw, but could not complete his pentathlon events. Myyrä successfully defended his javelin title at the

1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1924), officially the Games of the VIII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la VIIIe olympiade) and also known as Paris 1924, were an international multi-sport event held in Paris, France. The op ...

, and then fled to the

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due to his financial problems in Finland. He never returned to his home country and died in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

in 1955.Jonni Myyrä
sports-reference He threw one officially ratified

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 ...

in the javelin, 66.10 meters in

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on 24 August 1919 and several other performances exceeding the official record at the time that were for various reasons not ratified, including his eventual personal best of 68.55 m achieved in

on 27 September 1925.

References

1892 births 1955 deaths People from Savitaipale People from Viipuri Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Finnish male discus throwers Finnish male javelin throwers Olympic athletes of Finland Olympic gold medalists for Finland Athletes (track and field) at the 1912 Summer Olympics 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) Finnish emigrants to the United States Sportspeople from South Karelia {{Finland-athletics-bio-stub