Frans Wilhelm "Ville" Pörhölä (originally Horneman, 24 December 1897 – 28 November 1964) was a Finnish athlete who competed in

shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field sport in which the participant athlete throws an oblate spheroid weight (object), weight called a discus in an attempt to mark a further distance than other competitors. It is a ...

hammer throw The hammer throw (HT for short) is one of the four throwing events in regular outdoor track-and-field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and Javelin throw, javelin. The hammer used in this sport is not like any of the tools a ...

and weight throw.

Biography

Pörhölä won the gold medal in shot put at the

1920 Summer Olympics The 1920 Summer Olympics (; ; ), officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad (; ; ) and commonly known as Antwerp 1920 (; Dutch language, Dutch and German language, German: ''Antwerpen 1920''), were an international multi-sport event held i ...

. He also competed in discus throw finishing in eighth place and in weight throw in which he was ninth. He later concentrated on work leaving his sports career behind him. He re-emerged in the sports scene as a hammer thrower in 1929, and later became an Olympic silver medalist in 1932 and European champion in 1934. At his last Olympics in 1936 he finished 11th. Nationally, Pörhölä won eight Finnish titles: in standing triple jump in 1922, in shot put in 1929–31 and in hammer throw in 1934–35. He also won the British AAA Championships title in the triple jump event at the 1922 AAA Championships. His trademark was wearing a cap in competitions. After retiring from competitions, Pörhölä worked for a large Finnish timber company, eventually becoming its managing director. He also served as president of the Sports Federation of Lapland in 1946–50. Pörhölä originated from the island of Röyttä, near Tornio, and was known in Finland as ''Röyttän karhu'' ("The Bear from Röyttä").

References

1897 births 1964 deaths Sportspeople from Tornio Finnish male discus throwers Finnish male hammer throwers Finnish male shot putters Olympic athletes for Finland Olympic gold medalists for Finland Athletes (track and field) at the 1920 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1924 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1932 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics European Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 1932 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1920 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Finland Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic weight throwers {{Finland-Olympic-medalist-stub