Markku Aulis Taskinen (born 25 February 1952) is a Finnish former

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

. At the 1974 European Championships he won bronze medals in both the 800 metres and the

4 × 400 metres relay The 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap. It is traditionally the final event of a track meet. At top class events, th ...

. He was European indoor champion at 800 metres in 1978.

Career

Taskinen was Finnish national under-19 champion at 800 m in 1970 and national under-21 champion at both 400 m and 800 m in 1971. He won his first national senior titles in 1973, winning both 400 m (47.9) and 800 m (1:50.0) at the Finnish championships. He repeated as 800 m champion in 1974, but was not expected to even make the final at that year's

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, ...

in Rome. At the European championships he placed third in his heat (1:48.7) and fourth in his semi-final (1:47.7); he was the last athlete to qualify for the final. In the final he was in last place with less than 100 m to go, but passed five athletes on the final straight and won bronze behind

Luciano Sušanj Luciano Sušanj (born November 10, 1948) is a Croatian politician, sports worker and former track athlete who competed for Yugoslavia. Sušanj was successful in international competition over 400 and 800 meters, but is best known for winning the 80 ...

and

Steve Ovett Stephen Michael James Ovett, (; born 9 October 1955) is a retired British track athlete. A middle-distance runner, he was the gold medalist in the 800 metres at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, and set 5 world records for 1500 metres and the ...

; his time of 1:45.89 improved his personal best by more than a second and a half. He won a second medal in the

4 × 400 m relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

, running the third leg for the Finnish team; Finland was disqualified for shoving after a French protest, but filed a successful counter-protest and regained the medal. Taskinen won further Finnish 800 m titles in 1975, 1976 and 1978; counting indoor titles (one each at 400 m and 800 m) and relay titles (one at 4 × 400 m and two at 4 × 800 m), he is an 11-time Finnish champion. At the 1978 European Indoor Championships in Milan he won gold in the 800 metres, ahead of East Germany's Olaf Beyer; , his winning time of 1:47.36 still remains the Finnish indoor record, though

Wilson Kirwa Wilson Kipchumba Kirwa (born 28 December 1974 in Eldoret, Kenya) is a Finnish middle-distance runner, municipal politician, writer, and entrepreneur. As a runner, Wilson represents Lahden Ahkera. He is also a National Coalition Party politician ...

and Ari Suhonen have run faster on oversized tracks. At the 1978 European outdoor championships in Prague Taskinen again took part in the 800 metres, but was eliminated in the semi-finals. In 1979 Taskinen experimented with the

400 m hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once ar ...

, representing Finland in that event at the Finland-Sweden Athletics International and winning silver in it at the national championships.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taskinen, Markku 1952 births Living people People from Kuusamo Finnish male sprinters Finnish male middle-distance runners European Athletics Championships medalists Sportspeople from North Ostrobothnia