Lasse Viren

Lasse Virén

Lasse Virén c. 1974
Personal information
Full name	Lasse Artturi Virén
Nationality	Finnish
Born	(1949-07-22) 22 July 1949 (age 67) Myrskylä, Finland
Height	180 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	59–61 kg (130–134 lb)
Sport
Country	Finland
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	Middle-distance running Long-distance running
Club	Myrskylän Myrsky
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	5000 m: 13:16.4 (1972) 10,000 m: 27:38.35 (1972) Marathon: 2:13:11 (1976)
Medal record Olympic Games 1972 Munich 5,000 m 1972 Munich 10,000 m 1976 Montreal 5,000 m 1976 Montreal 10,000 m European Championships 1974 Rome 5000 m

Lasse Artturi Virén (born 22 July 1949) is a Finnish former long-distance runner, winner of four gold medals at the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics. Virén recaptured the image of the "Flying Finns" promoted by runners like Hannes Kolehmainen, Paavo Nurmi and Ville Ritola in the 1920s. He was elected Finnish Sportsman of the Year in 1972 and 1976 and later became a politician and a member of Finland's parliament in 1999–2007 and 2010–2011.

Virén began his running career in the United States at Brigham Young University, in Provo, Utah. Virén ran on the Varsity Cross-Country team for BYU for one season, before returning home to his native Finland. A police officer from Myrskylä, Virén debuted on the international scene in 1971. His performances at the 1971 European Championships in Helsinki were overshadowed by fellow Finn Juha Väätäinen, who captured gold medals in both the 5000 and 10,000 metres events with Virén settling for modest seventh and 17th placings, respectively. According to Virén himself and his coach, Rolf Haikkola, Virén could have placed better in the 1971 European Athletics Championships, if he had done the "emptying exercise" of his system earlier – according to Haikkola, he followed the Finnish Athletics Federation's leaders' bad advice – and if he hadn't been pushed almost to the point of falling at the start of the last lap in the 5000 metres final. The "emptying exercise" of top runners means that they push their bodies to a total exhaustion or lack of energy so that their bodies can again receive much energy, and so that they can repeat their top race performances. Shortly after those European Championships, he broke Väätäinen's fresh Finnish record at 5,000 metres.

Buoyed by a brutal training regimen in Thomson's Falls, Kenya, and very impressive results, which included the smashing of the 2-mile world record and wins against Great Britain and Spain in a meet held in Helsinki in the summer of 1972, Lasse Virén entered the Munich Games as a dark horse.