Juha Iisakki Mieto (born 20 November 1949) is a Finnish former cross-country skier, who was born in

Kurikka Kurikka is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Southern Ostrobothnia region. The population of Kurikka is () and the municipality covers an area of of which is inland water ( ...

. He competed in the 1972, 1976, 1980 and 1984 Olympics and won five medals, including a gold medal in the 4 × 10 km relay in 1976. He also placed fourth three times, losing the 15 km bronze medal in 1972 by 0.06 seconds. He finished second in this event in 1980 in the closest-ever margin of victory in Olympic cross-country skiing, 0.01 seconds, which led the

International Ski Federation The ''Fédération internationale de ski et de snowboard'' (FIS; en, International Ski and Snowboard Federation) is the highest international governing body for skiing and snowboarding. Founded on 2 February 1924 in Chamonix, France during the ...

( FIS) to round all of their times to the nearest 1/10 second in future competitions. Mieto was selected as the Finnish flag bearer at the

1972 Winter Olympics The 1972 Winter Olympics, officially the and commonly known as Sapporo 1972 ( ja, 札幌1972), was a winter multi-sport event held from February 3 to 13, 1972, in Sapporo, Japan. It was the first Winter Olympic Games to take place outside Euro ...

.Finland
sports-reference.com Mieto won four medals at the

FIS Nordic World Ski Championships The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships is a biennial nordic skiing event organized by the International Ski Federation (FIS). The World Championships was started in 1925 for men and opened for women's participation in 1954. World Championship eve ...

, with silvers in the 30 km (1974) and the 4 × 10 km relay (1978), and bronzes in the 15 km (1978) and the 4 × 10 km relay (1982, tied with

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In t ...

). His biggest success as a cross-country skier was at the Holmenkollen ski festival where he won the 50 km once (1973) and the 15 km five times (1973–1975, 1977–1978). He received the Holmenkollen medal in 1974. After retiring from competitions in 1984 Mieto worked in public relations for several organizations, including

Nordea Bank Nordea Bank Abp, commonly referred to as Nordea, is a European financial services group operating in northern Europe and based in Helsinki, Finland. The name is a blend of the words "Nordic" and "idea". The bank is the result of the successive ...

, Kuortane Sports Resort and

World Vision In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

. In the 2007 Finnish parliament elections he was a Centre Party candidate in Vaasa

constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

. He was elected with 13,768 votes, which was the seventh best result in Finland that year.

Cross-country skiing results

Holmenkollen Ski Festival 1978 DEX PR 014095

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).

Olympic Games

* 5 medals – (1 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze)

World Championships

* 4 medals – (2 silver, 2 bronze)

World Cup

Season standings

Individual podiums

*1 podium

Team podiums

* 2 podiums Note: Until the 1999 World Championships and the 1994 Olympics, World Championship and Olympic races were included in the World Cup scoring system.

References

External links

* *
Holmenkollen medalists
– click Holmenkollmedaljen for downloadable pdf file
Holmenkollen winners since 1892
– click Vinnere for downloadable pdf file
Official home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mieto, Juha 1949 births Living people People from Kurikka Centre Party (Finland) politicians Members of the Parliament of Finland (2007–11) Cross-country skiers at the 1972 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 1976 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 1980 Winter Olympics Cross-country skiers at the 1984 Winter Olympics Finnish male cross-country skiers Holmenkollen medalists Holmenkollen Ski Festival winners Olympic cross-country skiers of Finland Olympic medalists in cross-country skiing FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in cross-country skiing Olympic gold medalists for Finland Olympic silver medalists for Finland Olympic bronze medalists for Finland Medalists at the 1984 Winter Olympics Finnish sportsperson-politicians Medalists at the 1976 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1980 Winter Olympics 20th-century Finnish people