Jouko Santeri Kuha (born 30 September 1939 in

Ranua Ranua is a municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. It is located in the provinces of Finland, province of Lapland, Finland, Lapland. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population dens ...

) is a Finnish former long-distance runner, who specialized in the 3000 metres steeplechase. In 1968 he broke the World record with a result of 8:24.2.

Career

Kuha's international breakthrough was at the Finland-Sweden athletics international in 1965 when he beat Bengt Persson with the Finnish record of 8:37.6. In the same year he was ranked ninth at the annual ranking of

Track and Field News ''Track & Field News'' is an American monthly sports magazine founded in 1948 by brothers Bert Nelson and Cordner Nelson, focused on the world of track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on runni ...

. At the 1966 European Championships in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Kuha ran a new Finnish record of 8:36.2 in the heats, but did not qualify for the final. Kuha realized that in order to reach the world's top he would be forced to leave Finland's winter conditions and conduct his training in warmer climates. He was the first Finnish runner to train in foreign countries, thus becoming a trendsetter for later Finnish runners who had success in the 1970s. In 1967 Kuha improved his Finnish record with a time of 8:29.8 in Stockholm, that season's second best time in the world after

Gaston Roelants Gaston, Baron Roelants (born 5 February 1937), is a Belgian former elite steeplechaser and cross country runner. He won the 1962 European and 1964 Olympic titles in the 3000 m steeplechase and twice broke the world record. Biography Roelant ...

. In the same year he won the 3000 metres steeplechase at the Universiades in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

. He ranked fifth in Track and Field News' annual world ranking in 1967. He prepared to spend the summer of 1968 training in the village of

Penedo Penedo is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the state of Alagoas in Brazil. The population is 63,846 (2020 est.) in an area of . Penedo lies south-west of the state capital of Maceió. History Founded in 1614, Penedo has many importan ...

Itatiaia Itatiaia () is a Brazilian municipality of the state of Rio de Janeiro. It is located at an altitude of . Its population was 32,064 in 2020 and its area is . The oldest Brazilian national park, Itatiaia National Park (Parque Nacional do Itatiaia, ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. That year, he set a world record on 17 July in Stockholm. His 1000 metres lap time was only 2:51.0, 1500 metres 4:17.2, and 2000 metres 5:43.2. However, Kuha was known for his fast final laps and again he sprinted to a world record time of 8:24.2, over 2 seconds faster than the previous record by

. Kuha knew that as a sea-level inhabitant he would not succeed at the high altitude of

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

and therefore he did not travel to the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

. He ranked tenth in Track and Field News' annual world ranking in 1968. Kuha's top season ended after

Achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcaneus ( ...

surgery in 1969. He still continued his career at the national level and competed at the

Finnish Championships in Athletics The Finnish Athletics Championships, which are known as ''Kalevan kisat'' in Finnish, were first held in Tampere in 1907. Since then, they have been held in a different location every year. In the beginning, women were not allowed to compete in th ...

at the age of 40 in 1980.

Trivia

Kuha's world record was threatened to be disqualified, because competition organizers provided bib numbers with the BP logo, which was against amateur athletic's rules in that era. Kuha did not earn much money during his career. One week after setting the world record, he competed in

Joensuu Joensuu (; krl, Jovensuu; ) is a city and municipality in North Karelia, Finland, located on the northern shore of Lake Pyhäselkä (northern part of Lake Saimaa) at the mouth of the Pielinen River (''Pielisjoki''). It was founded in 1848. The ...

before well over 6000 spectators. Kuha had agreed to a fee the previous spring of 600 Finnish markkas, which corresponds to 824

Euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

s in 2008 currency. During his career 1958–95 Kuha ran the 3000 metres steeplechase 170 times. At the age of 41 (1981) he ran with a time of 9:00.61 and at about two months prior to his 50th birthday in 1989, 9:37.79.

References

External links

Tilastopaja profile for Jouko Kuha (in Finnish)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuha, Jouko 1939 births Living people People from Ranua Finnish male long-distance runners World record setters in athletics (track and field) Finnish male steeplechase runners Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade gold medalists for Finland Medalists at the 1967 Summer Universiade Sportspeople from Lapland (Finland)