Kalle ANTTILA

Kalle Anttila was accomplished at both forms of international wrestling. He won the 1920 Olympic lightweight championship in freestyle and the 1924 Olympic title in Greco-Roman featherweight. Anttila is one of three wrestlers to have won Olympic gold medals in both styles, the others being Kristjan Palusalu and Ivar Johansson. Anttila also won two World titles, both of those in Greco-Roman featherweight class in 1921-22. At the Finnish championships, Anttila won six titles: in 1918-19 in Greco-Roman featherweight, in 1920 in Greco-Roman middleweight, in 1924 and 1929 in freestyle lightweight and in 1929 in Greco-Roman lightweight. By profession Anttila was a tailor who opened his own shop in Helsinki in 1908. In 1932 he founded Anttilan Pukimo OY (later Kalle Anttila OY), which manufactures men’s work outfits. His son, also named Kalle Anttila, was a successful businessman who founded the Anttila department store chain that now operates over 30 department stores in Finland, Estonia and Latvia.