Seppo Antero Simola (27 July 1936 in

Somero Somero () is a town and municipality of Finland. It is part of the Southwest Finland region in the province of Western Finland, located northeast of Salo, east of Turku and northwest of Helsinki. The municipality has a population of () and cove ...

- 9 March 2003) was a 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 represented Turun Riento, weighing in at 128 kg and standing 191 cm tall. He competed in the men's shot put at the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972 ...

. He was the first Finn to put the shot more than 20 m in an official competition when he put it 20.15 metres in

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

, Finland on 19 July 1972; this was of course his personal best and a national record. Even though Simola was a five-time Finnish champion outdoors and three-time champion indoors, he never placed higher than 16th in the Olympics and 11th in the European Championships. Simola was one of the first six Finns originally admitted to the 20 meter club when it was founded in April 1983.

Major achievements

References

1936 births 2003 deaths People from Somero Finnish male shot putters Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Finland Sportspeople from Southwest Finland 20th-century Finnish people 21st-century Finnish people {{Finland-athletics-bio-stub