Martti Leo Tolamo (born Topelius; 21 February 1907 – 14 March 1940) was a Finnish athlete. He competed in the Olympic Games as a decathlete and a long jumper; his other strong event was the non-Olympic pentathlon, in which he broke the unofficial world record in 1930 and won two medals, including a gold, at the International University Games.
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Birth name | Martti Leo Topelius | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Finnish | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 21 February 1907 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 14 March 1940 (aged 33) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 76 kg (168 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal best(s) | Pentathlon: 4011 (1930) Long jump: 7.51 (1934) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Career
editAt the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam Tolamo competed in the decathlon, placing 16th.[1] The following year he exceeded the Finnish long jump record with a jump of 7.42 m, but due to wind assistance that record could not be ratified.[2]
At the 1930 Finnish Championships at Tampere he won the pentathlon with 4011 points, an unofficial world record.[2] He also triumphed at that year's International University Games, scoring 3979 points to secure gold ahead of Latvia's Jānis Dimza.[3] Tolamo's world record was broken the following year by javelin thrower Matti Sippala;[2] however, with modern scoring tables Tolamo's score would have remained the record, and it eventually re-emerged as a national pentathlon best, only broken in 2007.[4]
Tolamo legitimately broke the Finnish long jump record in 1933 in a dual meet between Finland and Norway, jumping 7.46 m.[2][5] At that year's International University Games he won silver in the long jump and bronze in the pentathlon.[3] He broke his own national long jump record in September 1934, in another dual meet (between Finland and Germany); he jumped 7.51 m and defeated both Wilhelm Leichum, who had won the European championship the previous week, and future Olympic silver medalist Luz Long.[2] That jump remained the Finnish record until 1954, when Jorma Valkama broke it.[6]
Tolamo returned to the Olympics in 1936, competing in both the decathlon and the long jump.[1] He failed to make the final in the long jump and did not finish in the decathlon.[1]
He was killed in action in 1940.[7]
References
edit- ^ a b c "Martti Tolamo Bio, Stats and Results". Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
- ^ a b c d e Jukola, Martti (1935). Huippu-urheilun historia (in Finnish). Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö.
- ^ a b "WORLD STUDENT GAMES (PRE-UNIVERSIADE)". Athletics Weekly. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
- ^ "77-vuotias Suomen ennätys rikottiin 5-ottelussa" (in Finnish). Suomen Urheiluliitto. Archived from the original on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
- ^ Martti Tolamo at Tilastopaja (in Finnish) (registration required)
- ^ Hakalax, Jari. "Urheiluvuosi 1954" (in Finnish). Suomen Urheilutietäjät. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
- ^ "Olympians Who Were Killed or Missing in Action or Died as a Result of War". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2018.