Jonni Myyrä

Jonni Myyrä

Jonni Myyrä at the 1920 Olympics
Personal information
Full name	Joonas Myyrä
Nationality	Finland
Born	13 July 1892 Savitaipale, Viipuri Province, Grand Duchy of Finland
Died	22 January 1955 (aged 62) San Francisco, United States
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	80 kg (180 lb)
Sport
Sport	Javelin throw, discus throw, pentathlon
Club	Partakosken Into Savitaipaleen Urheilijat Lahden Ahkera
Medal record Olympic Games 1920 Antwerp Javelin throw 1924 Paris Javelin throw

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.^[1] Nevertheless, Myyrä managed to win 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, and then fled to the United States due to his financial problems in Finland. He never returned to his home country and died in San Francisco in 1955.^[2]

He threw one officially ratified world record in the javelin, 66.10 meters in Stockholm 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 Richmond, Virginia, on 27 September 1925.^[2]

References

1. Arponen, Antti O. (1996). Olympiakisat Ateenasta Atlantaan (in Finnish). WSOY. ISBN 951-0-21072-2.
2. Jonni Myyrä. sports-reference