Mikko Kolehmainen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Olympic medal record
Men's Canoeing
Gold	1992 Barcelona	K-1 500 m

Mikko Yrjö Ilmari Kolehmainen (born August 18, 1964 in Mikkeli) is a retired Finnish flatwater canoer. He won Finland's only gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

He represented his country at four separate Olympic Games between 1984 and 1996. At Los Angeles in 1984 he competed in the K2 kayak with his brother Olli. Four years later at the Seoul games he was a member of Finland's four-man (K4) crew.

By now established as Finland's strongest kayak sprinter he concentrated on the individual K1 500m discipline. Although a respected competitor at international regattas he never really threatened the top paddlers for the major prizes. At the 1991 World Championships in Paris he finished a creditable seventh.

It was therefore a major shock when, at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, he won the K1 500m gold medal. His victory over reigning champion Zsolt Gyulay of Hungary gave Finland their only gold medal of an otherwise disappointing Games.

A year later he showed that his Barcelona performance was no fluke by winning the world championship K1 500m title in Copenhagen. At his farewell Olympics, in Atlanta in 1996 he finished in seventh place.