Joonas "Jonni" Myyrä (13 July 1892 – 22 January 1955) was a Finnish athlete who competed at the 1912, 1920 and 1924 Olympics. In 1912, he finished eighth in the javelin throw. At the 1920 Olympics, his left arm was fractured in a warm-up accident – the spear thrown by James Lincoln struck Myyrä while he was resting on the grass. Nevertheless, Myyrä won the javelin event with an Olympic record of 65.78 meters. He also finished 12th in the discus throw but could not complete his pentathlon events. Myyrä successfully defended his javelin title at the

1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the VIII Olympiad () and officially branded as Paris 1924, were an international multi-sport event held in Paris, France. The opening ceremony was held on 5 July, but some competitions had al ...

and then fled to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

due to his financial problems in Finland. He never returned to his home country and died in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

in 1955.Jonni Myyrä
sports-reference He threw one

officially An official is someone who holds an office (function or Mandate (politics), mandate, regardless of whether it carries an actual Office, working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority (eithe ...

ratified

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 organizatio ...

in the javelin, 66.10 meters in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

on 24 August 1919 and several other performances exceeding the official record at the time that were for various reasons not ratified, including his eventual personal best of 68.55 m achieved in

on 27 September 1925.

References

External links

* 1892 births 1955 deaths People from Savitaipale Sportspeople from Viipuri Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Finnish male discus throwers Finnish male javelin throwers Olympic athletes for Finland Olympic gold medalists for Finland Athletes (track and field) at the 1912 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1920 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1924 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1924 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1920 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Finnish emigrants to the United States Athletes from South Karelia {{Finland-athletics-bio-stub World record setters in athletics (track and field)