Kauko Antero HÄNNINEN

Kauko Hänninen became acquainted with water and boating early in life, as his father was a timber rafter and young Hänninen often accompanied his father to work. Hänninen took up competitive rowing at the age of 14 at the Helsinki Naval Base, where his father worked during World War II. Hänninen soon rose to be one of the top Finnish rowers of the 1950s. During his career, which lasted nearly two decades, Hänninen won an Olympic bronze in 1956 (in coxed fours), was European champion in 1956 (in coxed fours) and won two European Championships bronzes in 1955 (in coxed and coxless fours). He was also a 23-time Finnish champion – double sculls in 1967, coxless pairs in 1954 and 1966, coxed pairs in 1966, coxless fours in 1955-56 and 1965, coxed fours in 1955, 1958-60 and 1963-65; and coxed eights in 1955, 1957, 1959-62 and 1964-66. Outside of sports, Hänninen worked as a pipe fitter and welder, at first with Wärtsilä Oyj, the leading Finnish manufacturer of heavy marine equipment and later at the Crichton-Vulcan shipyard in Turku.