Kaarlo Kalervo Toivonen (22 January 1913, Salo – 25 July 2006) was a Finnish athlete who mainly competed in the men's javelin throw during his career. Toivonen represented Finland at 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 ...

in Berlin, where he threw the javelin 70.72 metres to win the

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

. The competition in the javelin throw was extremely close; fellow Finn, Yrjo Nikkanen finished just five centimeters ahead of Toivonen to win the

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

, and one meter ahead of both Finns was Germany's

Gerhard Stöck Gerhard Karl Eduard Stöck (28 July 1911 – 29 March 1985) was a German athlete. He won the javelin throw event at the 1936 Olympics and placed third in the shot put. Stöck was the son of a butcher. He was born in Kaiserswalde in 1911, a sma ...

, who won the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

at 71.84 meters. Both Toivonen and Nikkanen had been ahead of Gerhard Stöck through four rounds of throwing; then in round five, Stöck came through with his gold medal-winning performance.

References

1913 births 2006 deaths People from Salo, Finland Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics Finnish male javelin throwers Olympic athletes for Finland Olympic bronze medalists for Finland Medalists at the 1936 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Sportspeople from Southwest Finland 20th-century Finnish people 21st-century Finnish people {{Finland-athletics-bio-stub