Antti HYVÄRINEN

Antti Hyvärinen was the first non-Norwegian ski jumper to win an Olympic gold medal. Hyvärinen made his international début at the 1952 Winter Olympics, where he was seventh. At the 1954 World Championships Hyvärinen finished in ninth position. Hyvärinen won his only Finnish Championships title in 1954, but his best season was probably 1956, when he won a somewhat surprising gold at the 1956 Olympics Games and also won at Holmenkollen. Hyvärinen was also scheduled to compete at the 1958 World Championships, but a fall in practice and a broken hip put an unexpected end to his career in November 1957. From 1960-64 he worked as a head coach with the Finnish national ski jumping team.