Johan Verner Weckman (26 July 1882 – 22 February 1968) was a wrestler, who is the first Finnish Olympic gold medalist.

Wrestling

He was inspired to take up wrestling at the age of 15. He joined the club Helsingfors Gymnastikklubben in 1902, then moved to Helsingin Atleettiklubi in 1903. He won the Finnish national Greco-Roman heavyweight championship in 1904. Then he moved to Germany, where he joined the club Germania Karlsruhe. He won the unofficial Greco-Roman heavyweight world title in

Duisburg Duisburg () is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in Nor ...

in 1905. Weckman was the initiating force behind Finland sending a team to the 1906 Intercalated Games. He was being pressured by the German Imperial committee for Olympic Games to change citizenship and to join the German team, but Weckman insisted on representing Finland. He found a private financial supporter, and four Finnish competitors travelled to Athens. He won gold in his class: The all-around event was exclusively for class-winners, and no physical medals were awarded for the three participants. He was nominated into the 1908 Finnish Olympic team without trials. According to rumours, Weckman bribed Saarela to throw the final. Modern sportswriters Arto Teronen and Jouko Vuolle consider there to be plenty of circumstantial evidence in favour. He retired from wrestling after the 1908 games. Weckman is the first Finn to win an Olympic gold, both including and excluding the Intercalated Games, and the first Finnish wrestler to win a world championship, although unofficially. Weckman also joked that he was the first Russian Olympic winner, when he met with Soviets during negotiations for the Finnish war reparations to the Soviet Union. He donated his gold medals to the Sports Museum of Finland.

Business career

He completed his matriculation exam at the Helsinki Swedish Real Lyceum in 1902 and then studied at the Helsinki Polytechnical Institute. He moved abroad in 1904 to avoid conscription. He studied briefly in

ETH Zurich (colloquially) , former_name = eidgenössische polytechnische Schule , image = ETHZ.JPG , image_size = , established = , type = Public , budget = CHF 1.896 billion (2021) , rector = Günther Dissertori , president = Joël Mesot , ac ...

and then moved to

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; german: Karlsruher Institut für Technologie) is a public research university in Karlsruhe, Germany. The institute is a national research center of the Helmholtz Association. KIT was created in 2009 w ...

. Weckman graduated as a Master of Science in mechanical engineering in 1907 and electrical engineering in 1908. He briefly served in

Westinghouse Electric Corporation The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was renamed "Westinghouse Electric Corporation" in ...

in France in 1909, and then worked as a technical director in asbestos mining in the Ural Mountains until 1921. Then he returned to Finland, where he worked at the

Kaapelitehdas Kaapelitehdas ( Finnish for "the Cable Factory", also called simply Kaapeli, sv, Kabelfabriken) is a famous building in Salmisaari, Helsinki, near the Lauttasaari bridge. It was redeveloped from its industrial use into a cultural centre which ...

, first as a technical director in 1921–1937, then its chief executive officer in 1937–1955. He remained in the company board after retirement. He was a deputy board member of The

Finnish Employers' Confederation Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

in 1942–1947 and board member in metal industry and engineering associations.

Accolades

He is an honorary chairman of Helsingin Atleettiklubi. He was awarded the honorary title

vuorineuvos Vuorineuvos ("mining counselor", literally Finnish for "mountain counselor"; sv, bergsråd) is a Finnish honorary title granted by the President of Finland to leading figures in industry and commerce. The title is honorary and has no responsibili ...

in 1953. He received the following honorary awards: *

Order of the Cross of Liberty The Order of the Cross of Liberty ( fi, Vapaudenristin ritarikunta; sv, Frihetskorsets orden) is one of three official state orders in Finland, along with the Order of the White Rose of Finland and the Order of the Lion of Finland. Organisation ...

, 2nd and 3rd class * Commander, First Class, of the Order of the Lion of Finland * Commemorative Medal of the Winter War * The medal for protesters against Russian military draft 1905–1906 * Cross of Merit, in gold, of the Finnish Sports There is a memorial dedicated to him in his birth town Loviisa. Made by

Matti Haupt Matti may refer to: * Matti (given name), people with the given name * Matti (surname), people with the surname * Matti, Karnataka, a village in India * '' Matti: Hell Is for Heroes'', a 2006 film about Matti Nykänen See also * Masa (disambigu ...

in 1963, Olympic rings were added to it in 2010. ''

Talouselämä ''Talouselämä'' (Finnish: ''Economic Life'') is a Finnish language weekly financial and business magazine published in Helsinki, Finland. It has been in circulation since 1938. History and profile ''Talouselämä'' was established by Finnish b ...

'' magazine listed Weckman among the 100 most significant business executives of Finland's history in 2012.

Family

His parents were farm owner Anders Weckman and Fredrika Johansson. His first marriage was to Ingrid Suoma Regina Svedberg (1889–1947) in 1910. They had two children: # Gunnel Ingrid Emilia (1914–) # Per Verner Anders (1916–) He became a widow in 1947, and married Dagmar Maria Falin (former Lund) (1894–) in 1948.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weckman, Verner 1882 births 1968 deaths People from Loviisa People from Uusimaa Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Olympic wrestlers of Finland Wrestlers at the 1906 Intercalated Games Wrestlers at the 1908 Summer Olympics Finnish male sport wrestlers Olympic gold medalists for Finland Olympic silver medalists for Finland Nokia people Olympic medalists in wrestling Medalists at the 1908 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1906 Intercalated Games World Wrestling Championships medalists Sportspeople from Uusimaa 19th-century Finnish people 20th-century Finnish people