Toivo Pohjala (1 February 1888 – 23 August 1969) was a Finnish

wrestler Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat sport ...

and

harness racing Harness racing is a form of horse racing in which the horses race at a specific gait (a trot or a pace). They usually pull a two-wheeled cart called a sulky, or spider, or chariot occupied by a driver. In Europe, and less frequently in Australi ...

driver.

Wrestling

Pohjala competed at the 1924 Summer Olympics, where he placed 7th in freestyle heavyweight event. He won a bronze medal in the heavyweight class at the

1922 World Wrestling Championships The 1922 World Greco-Roman Wrestling Championship were held in Stockholm, Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of S ...

Harness racing

As a harness racer Pohjala won two Racing King titles with his

Finnhorse The Finnhorse or Finnish Horse ( fi, suomenhevonen, literally "horse of Finland"; nickname: ''suokki'', or sv, finskt kallblod, literally "finnish cold-blood") is a horse breed with both riding horse and draught horse influences and characteris ...

stallion A stallion is a male horse that has not been gelded (castrated). Stallions follow the conformation and phenotype of their breed, but within that standard, the presence of hormones such as testosterone may give stallions a thicker, "cresty" nec ...

"Lohdutus" in 1938

Vyborg Vyborg (; rus, Вы́борг, links=1, r=Výborg, p=ˈvɨbərk; fi, Viipuri ; sv, Viborg ; german: Wiborg ) is a town in, and the administrative center of, Vyborgsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Karelian Isthmus ne ...

and 1939

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

. He was also the president of Finnish Trotting Association from 1955 to 1962.

Family

His son Toivo T. Pohjala (1931–2018) was a former member of

Finnish Parliament The Parliament of Finland ( ; ) is the unicameral and supreme legislature of Finland, founded on 9 May 1906. In accordance with the Constitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that power is vested in the Parliament. The ...

who served as the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry in 1987–1991.Toivo T. Pohjala
(in Finnish). Parliament of Finland. Retrieved 30 December 2013.

References

1888 births 1969 deaths People from Nakkila People from Turku and Pori Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Olympic wrestlers for Finland Wrestlers at the 1924 Summer Olympics Finnish male sport wrestlers Finnish harness racers Sportspeople from Satakunta World Wrestling Championships medalists Sportspeople from Nakkila {{horseracing-bio-stub