Ville Johannes Tiisanoja (born 24 December 1975 in

Vantaa Vantaa (; sv, Vanda, ) is a city and Municipalities of Finland, municipality in Finland. It is part of the inner core of the Greater Helsinki, Finnish Capital Region along with Helsinki, Espoo, and Kauniainen. With a population of (), Vantaa i ...

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 ...

) is a 192-cm (6' 4") tall Finnish

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

ter who weighs 119 kg (260 lbs) and competes for Kenttäurheilijat-58 in Vantaa. His personal best in the men's shot put currently stands at 21.09 m, which he put on 28 July 2002 in the Elite Games in Kuortane,

. He is coached by his father Kalle Tiisanoja. Tiisanoja is a construction foreman by trade. Although Tiisanoja does not hold any Finnish records for men's

, he does hold the record for 17-year-olds from 1992 (19.79 m) and the indoor shot put record for 14-year-olds from 1989 (13.30 m). In addition, Tiisanoja holds several records for discus,

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 ...

and

hammer throw The hammer throw is one of the four throwing events in regular track and field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and javelin. The "hammer" used in this sport is not like any of the tools also called by that name. It consis ...

. Tiisanoja competed in the

2004 Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, where he did not make it to the final round and ended up placing 19th thanks to his put of 19.50 in the qualifiers. Even though Tiisanoja regularly puts over 20 m, his best placing in the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

was a 4th place in the 2005 Indoor Championships in Madrid and 8th place in 3 World Athletics Championships. He has, however, won 3 Finnish Championships, one (2006) which he has been stripped of. Tiisanoja was the 15th member to be inducted into the

20 meter club The 20 meter club (''20 metrin kerho'' in Finnish) is an unregistered Finnish association for Finnish shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. T ...

after he successfully putted the shot 20.06 m in a competition on 31 July 1999 in

Espoo Espoo (, ; sv, Esbo) is a city and municipality in the region of Uusimaa in the Republic of Finland. It is located on the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordering the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, Kirkkonummi, Vihti and Nurmijärvi ...

Doping

2002

Tiisanoja and discus thrower

Timo Tompuri Timo Antero Tompuri (born June 9, 1969 in Pernå, Finland) is a Finnish discus, discus thrower, who throws for the team Yleisurheilu-Team Sahalahti. Although he was coached by Kari Mattila until 2004, he currently coaches himself. Standing 187 ...

were caught by the French Customs Authorities in spring 2002 with doping substances (4 ampules of

testosterone Testosterone is the primary sex hormone and anabolic steroid in males. In humans, testosterone plays a key role in the development of Male reproductive system, male reproductive tissues such as testes and prostate, as well as promoting secondar ...

, 38 tablets of ephedrine, 44 tablets of clenbuterol and 245 tablets of

melatonin Melatonin is a natural product found in plants and animals. It is primarily known in animals as a hormone released by the pineal gland in the brain at night, and has long been associated with control of the sleep–wake cycle. In vertebrates ...

) in their car when they were returning from training in Spain; they denied all involvement and were left off with a warning even though the Legal Protection Board of Sport in Finland stated in their decision that it was extremely unlikely that someone would have been able to stash doping substances in their luggage by accident or without their knowledge that are abused in their sports events. For this reason, the Legal Protection Board did not consider it credible that Tiisanoja and Tompuri did not know about the doping substances in their car.

2006

On 27 June, 21 July and 31 July 2006 Tiisanoja tested positive for

; he admitted that his A test was accurate and did not request that his B sample be analyzed. Tiisanoja is banned from competing for two years and has been fined EUR 50,000. In addition, all of his results in competitions since 27 June 2006 will be thrown out, thus stripping him of his gold medal in the Finnish Championships that year, meaning that Conny Karlsson won that year's Finnish Championship. Tiisanoja is attributing his decision to use a banned substance to his desire to attain the levels he had previously reached in international competitions after a dismal indoors season.

Achievements

References

External links