Toivo Kostia Salonen (21 May 1933 – 28 October 2019) was a former

speed skater Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating. ...

from

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. He was born in

Pälkäne Pälkäne () is a municipality of Finland. It is part of the Pirkanmaa region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which . The population density is . Onkkaala is the administrative center of the municipality. Tamper ...

Medals

Toivo Salonen had most of his successes on a national level, becoming Finnish Allround Champion in 1954, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961, winning Finnish silver in 1953, 1955, and 1962, and taking bronze in 1963 and 1964. But Salonen also competed internationally for 12 years and participated in 4 Winter Olympics. At the

1956 Winter Olympics The 1956 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VII Olympic Winter Games ( it, VII Giochi Olimpici invernali) and commonly known as Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956 ( lld, Anpezo 1956 or ), was a multi-sport event held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, from ...

Cortina d'Ampezzo Cortina d'Ampezzo (; lld, Anpezo, ; historical de-AT, Hayden) is a town and ''comune'' in the heart of the southern (Dolomitic) Alps in the Province of Belluno, in the Veneto region of Northern Italy. Situated on the Boite river, in an alp ...

, he won bronze on the 1,500 m. So far (including the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...

), Salonen is the last Finnish male speed skater to have won an Olympic medal – the last Finnish female speed skater so far being

Kaija Mustonen Kaija Marja Mustonen (born 4 August 1941) is a former speed skater from Finland. After winning silver and bronze at the 1964 Winter Olympics of Innsbruck, Mustonen went on to win gold and silver at the 1968 Winter Olympics of Grenoble la ...

in 1968. In 1959, Salonen won bronze at the European Allround Championships behind gold medallist

Knut Johannesen Knut ("Kupper'n") Johannesen (born 6 November 1933) is a former speed skater from Norway. Biography Born in Oslo and representing the skating club ASK (''Arbeidernes Skøyteklubb'' – later called ''Aktiv Skøyteklubb'') Johannesen won the Wor ...

and fellow countryman

Juhani Järvinen Jouko Juhani Järvinen (9 May 1935 – 31 May 1984) was a Finnish speed skater. He competed in the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Olympics with the best result of fourth place over 1500 m in 1956 and fifth in 1960. In 1959 he won a world title,

, who won silver. Two weeks later at the World Allround Championships, Salonen won silver behind Järvinen.

References

Toivo Salonen at SkateResults.com

External links

* 1933 births 2019 deaths People from Pälkäne Finnish male speed skaters Olympic speed skaters of Finland Speed skaters at the 1952 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 1956 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 1960 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 1964 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in speed skating Medalists at the 1956 Winter Olympics World Allround Speed Skating Championships medalists Olympic bronze medalists for Finland Sportspeople from Pirkanmaa {{Finland-speed-skating-bio-stub