Seppo Henrik Räty (born 27 April 1962) is a retired Finnish

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete who competed in the

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 ...

. He was a World Champion, having won gold in

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

. He was also an Olympic medalist (silver in 1992, bronze in 1988 and 1996). He was nicknamed ''Tohmajärven karhu'' ("The Bear of

Tohmajärvi Tohmajärvi () is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the North Karelia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The municipality is unilingually Finnish. Neig ...

") and ''Tohmajärven tykki'' ("The Cannon of Tohmajärvi"). His personal best throw of 96.96 m, set in 1991, was one of his two

world records 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 ...

with the "new javelin" at the time, however this throw was made using a "Nemeth" javelin that was banned by the

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...

later that year. All records made using this javelin were retrospectively deleted as from 20.9.1991 but remain ratified world records recognised by the IAAF. His best throw with the current javelin is 90.60 m, achieved in 1992. While in the process of winning the 1987 World Championships, Räty was the subject of an often repeated video of failure. Räty tripped on the runway, his javelin throw sticking in the runway about 30 cm short of the foul line. While an embarrassing throw for negative gain, in fact since he had not crossed the line it did not even count as a foul. After retiring, Räty became a coach. He currently mentors another javelin thrower from Northern Karelia,

Oona Sormunen Oona Anniina Sormunen (born 2 August 1989 in Kitee, Finland) is a Finnish javelin thrower. She has represented Finland in 2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest reco ...

Seasonal bests by year

*1986 - 81.72 *1987 - 83.54 *1988 - 83.26 *1989 - 83.92 *1990 - 86.92 *1991 - 96.96 (modified javelin) *1992 - 90.60 *1993 - 85.68 *1994 - 85.22 *1995 - 87.68 *1996 - 86.98 *1997 - 82.22 *1998 - 75.14 *1999 - 79.47

References

External links

* * 1962 births Living people People from Tohmajärvi Athletes from Helsinki Finnish male javelin throwers Olympic athletes of Finland Olympic silver medalists for Finland Olympic bronze medalists for Finland Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for Finland World Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) World Athletics Championships winners 20th-century Finnish people 21st-century Finnish people {{Finland-athletics-bio-stub