Heikki LIIMATAINEN

Heikki Liimatainen competed at the 1920 Antwerpen Olympics and in 1924 at Paris. Individually his greatest achievement was the bronze medal in the 1920 cross-country run, trailing only the legendary Paavo Nurmi, and Swedish runner Eric Backman. However, he won team cross-country gold medals at both Olympics. In Paris it took him two minutes to master the last 30 metres of the cross-country run, known as the “red-hot battle of Colombes,” because he was completely dehydrated due to ambient temperatures of about 45° C. Nevertheless, he finished 12th, to help Finland repeat as the gold medalists. Liimatainen was the Finnish 10 000 m champion from 1918-20.

Personal Best: 10000 – 32:08.2 (1920).