Thor Helland (10 December 1936 – 2 August 2021) was a Norwegian long-distance runner who specialized in the

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a stan ...

. Helland was born in

Sørfold Sørfold is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Salten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Straumen. Other villages in the municipality include Leirfjordgården, ...

Nordland Nordland (; smj, Nordlánnda, sma, Nordlaante, sme, Nordlánda, en, Northland) is a county in Norway in the Northern Norway region, the least populous of all 11 counties, bordering Troms og Finnmark in the north, Trøndelag in the south, N ...

. At the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this ho ...

he finished eighth in the 5000m final in 13:57.0 minutes. He became Norwegian champion 12 times in the years 1961 to 1967. He represented the club

IL i BUL Idrottslaget i Bondeungdomslaget i Oslo (also BUL, Oslo) is a sports club in Oslo, Norway, founded on 8 January 1913. It is one of several branches of Bondeungdomslaget i Oslo, a local chapter of Noregs Mållag and Noregs Ungdomslag. IL i BUL ha ...

. His personal best time was 13:37.4 minutes, achieved in June 1965 in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

. He held the Norwegian record for 3000m three times, 5000m two times, and 10,000m once. He also held the Nordic record for 5000m and 3000m in 1965. He and his wife, Unni Helland (a prominent athlete herself) have contributed a great deal to their club IL i BUL as coaches. In 2020 they were still actively training and supporting the new generation of athletes. Thor and Unni Helland lived in Oslo, Norway and have two children together, Ståle (b.1961) and Lasse (b.1963). They also have two granddaughters: Anine (b.1992) and Emilie Josephine (b.1993).

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sports-reference
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Helland, Thor 1936 births 2021 deaths People from Sørfold Norwegian male long-distance runners Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Norway Norwegian athletics coaches Sportspeople from Nordland