Harry Larva
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| Olympic medal record | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Men's Athletics | |||
| Gold | 1928 Amsterdam | 1500 metres | |
Harri ("Harry") Edvin Larva (September 9, 1906 – November 11, 1980) was a Finnish athlete, winner of 1500 m at the 1928 Summer Olympics.
Born in Turku, Harry Larva was forced to change his last name from Lagerström to Larva in 1928 by a young president of Finnish Athletics Union and known nationalist Urho Kaleva Kekkonen, because his name didn't sound as Finnish.
Larva, a Finnish champion in 800 m from 1928 to 1930 and in 1934, won only one bronze (1927) in his favourite distance 1500 m at Finnish Championships. Harry Larva's best year was in 1928, when he ran all his best performances in distances from 400 m to a mile.
At the Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, in a 1500 m. final, Larva held a great battle against Frenchman Jules Ladoumègue, and surprisingly won in a time of 3:53.2. Larva competed also at the 1932 Summer Olympics and finished 10th in a 1500 m.
| Olympic champions in men's 1500 m |
|---|
|
1896: Teddy Flack | 1900: Charles Bennett | 1904: Jim Lightbody | 1906: Jim Lightbody | 1908: Mel Sheppard | 1912: Arnold Jackson | 1920: Albert Hill | 1924: Paavo Nurmi | 1928: Harry Larva | 1932: Luigi Beccali | 1936: Jack Lovelock | 1948: Henry Eriksson | 1952: Josy Barthel | 1956: Ron Delany | 1960: Herb Elliott | 1964: Peter Snell | 1968: Kip Keino | 1972: Pekka Vasala | 1976: John Walker | 1980: Sebastian Coe | 1984: Sebastian Coe | 1988: Peter Rono | 1992: Fermín Cacho | 1996: Noureddine Morceli | 2000: Noah Ngeny | 2004: Hicham El Guerrouj |
