Väinö Jeremias Sipilä (24 December 1897 – 12 September 1987) was a Finnish

long-distance runner Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely Aerobic exercise, aerobic in nature and requires endurance, stamina as well as mental strength. Within e ...

. Sipilä competed in the

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hol ...

and

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics ( nl, Olympische Zomerspelen 1928), officially known as the Games of the IX Olympiad ( nl, Spelen van de IXe Olympiade) and commonly known as Amsterdam 1928, was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from ...

, placing fourth in the

10,000 metres The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship level events. The race ...

and being part of Finland's winning

cross-country Cross country or cross-country may refer to: Places * Cross Country, Baltimore, a neighborhood in northwest Baltimore, Maryland * Cross County Parkway, an east–west parkway in Westchester County, NY * Cross County Shopping Center, a mall in Yo ...

team in the 1924 Games. He held world records at the unusual distances of 20,000 metres and 30,000 metres for several years.

Career

Sipilä was Finnish cross country champion in 1923, 1924, 1925 and 1929. At the

1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1924), officially the Games of the VIII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la VIIIe olympiade) and also known as Paris 1924, were an international multi-sport event held in Paris, France. The op ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Sipilä first placed fourth in the

10,000 m The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship level events. The race ...

race (behind Ville Ritola, Edvin Wide and

Eero Berg Eero Berg (17 February 1898, Kangasala – 14 July 1969) was a Finnish athlete who mainly competed in the 10,000 metres during his career. He competed for Finland at the 1924 Summer Olympics held in Paris, France France (), officia ...

) and then took part in the 10.65 km cross-country race, which doubled as an

individual An individual is that which exists as a distinct entity. Individuality (or self-hood) is the state or quality of being an individual; particularly (in the case of humans) of being a person unique from other people and possessing one's own Maslow ...

and

team A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson (academic), Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interde ...

competition. In the extremely hot and demanding conditions, more than half of the participants failed to finish, including Sipilä and two other members of the Finnish team, Berg and

Eino Rastas Eino Rastas (17 July 1894 – 7 January 1965) was a Finnish long-distance runner. Rastas was a three-time Finnish champion and competed in the Summer Olympics in 1920, 1924 and 1928; in 1920 and 1924 he was part of Finland's gold medal winning cr ...

; Finland only barely got a valid team result, even though its stars

Paavo Nurmi Paavo Johannes Nurmi (; 13 June 1897 – 2 October 1973) was a Finnish middle-distance and long-distance runner. He was called the "Flying Finn" or the "Phantom Finn", as he dominated distance running in the 1920s. Nurmi set 22 official world r ...

and Ritola placed a clear first and second. Sipilä was in fourth place in the 6.2 km intermediate standings, ahead of eventual individual bronze medalist Earl Johnson of the United States, but had to drop out shortly after that point. In 1925 Sipilä broke the

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

at the unusual distance of 20,000 metres, running 1:06:29.0 in Stockholm and breaking

Ville Kyrönen Ville Kyrönen (14 January 1891 – 24 May 1959) was a Finnish long-distance runner. Kyrönen won a silver medal in the team cross country event at the 1912 Summer Olympics. He also ran in the marathon at the 1924 Events Janua ...

's record of 1:07:07.2 from the previous year. At the

Sipilä represented Finland in the

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

, but only placed 15th; a month after the Olympics he broke the world record for 30,000 metres at

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...

, running 1:43:07.8. In the same race, Martti Marttelin broke the 25,000 m world record as a split. Sipilä's 20,000 m record was broken in 1930 by Paavo Nurmi, who ran 1:04:38.4; Nurmi's 1928 hour record of 19,210 m would have been equal to a time close to 1:02:30. Sipilä's 30,000 m record was broken in 1931 by Argentina's

Juan Carlos Zabala Juan Carlos Zabala (October 11, 1911 – January 24, 1983), also known as "El Ñandú Criollo", was an Argentine long-distance runner, winner of the marathon race at the 1932 Summer Olympics. Biography Zabala ran his first marathon at the end ...

, who went on to win the 1932 Olympic marathon.

Personal life and legacy

His daughter

Leena Leena is a feminine given name. It is a variant spelling of Lina and Lena. It is a direct Quranic Arabic name, meaning "young palm tree", or figuratively "tender, young, delicate". In Persian, it means "light", "a ray of sunlight" or "beautiful g ...

became an Olympic sprint runner. A road at Syrjänharju, Pälkäne, where Sipilä trained, has been named after him.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sipila, Vaino 1897 births 1987 deaths People from Pälkäne Finnish male long-distance runners Athletes (track and field) at the 1924 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1928 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Finland World record setters in athletics (track and field) Medalists at the 1924 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Finland Olympic cross country runners Sportspeople from Pirkanmaa