Ville Ritola

Ville Ritola

Ville Ritola at the 1928 Olympics
Personal information
Full name	Vilho Eino Ritola
Born	18 January 1896 Peräseinäjoki, Finland
Died	24 April 1982 (aged 86) Helsinki, Finland
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight	66 kg (146 lb)
Sport
Sport	Running
Club	Tampereen Pyrintö Helsingin Toverit
Medal record Representing  Finland Olympic Games 1924 Paris 10,000 m 1924 Paris 3000 m steeplechase 1924 Paris 3000 m team 1924 Paris Team cross country 1924 Paris Individual cross country 1924 Paris 5000 m 1928 Amsterdam 5000 m 1928 Amsterdam 10,000 m

Vilho "Ville" Eino Ritola (18 January 1896 – 24 April 1982) was a Finnish long-distance runner. Known as one of the "Flying Finns", he won five Olympic gold medals and three Olympic silver medals in the 1920s. He holds the record of winning most athletics medals in one Olympic games event - four golds and two silvers in Paris 1924. He has won the second biggest number of athletics Olympic gold medals in one event.

Ritola's parents were farmers in western Finland near Seinäjoki. He was born in Peräseinäjoki, Finland. He was the 14th child in his family and had altogether 19 siblings, five of whom had died in infancy. 6 of the children were from his father's first marriage, 14 from the second, including Ville.

In 1913 he followed seven of his siblings and emigrated to the United States to work as a carpenter. There he started training in 1919 when he was already 23 years old. Later he many times referred to this late start of his sports career, and how it put him in a disadvantage compared to his rivals, especially the more famous of the Flying Finns, Paavo Nurmi, who started systematic training in his teens. In 1919 he joined the Finnish-American Athletic Club and trained together with Hannes Kolehmainen, who had moved to the United States after the 1912 Summer Olympics. In spring 1919 he took part in his first competition, a New York street race, and finished 33rd among 700 competitors. Only after this he started to train systematically.

Kolehmainen tried to convince the young Ritola to join the Finnish 1920 Summer Olympics team, but Ritola stated he was not ready yet. He had also just got married to Selma née Aaltonen. In 1921 he started to compete systematically, and in 1922 he won his first AAU Championship gold medals. The same year he came second in the Boston Marathon.