Harry Larva

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Olympic medal record
Men's Athletics
Gold 1928 Amsterdam 1500 metres

Harri Edvin Larva, born Harry Edvin Lagerström (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.

v • d • e
Olympic Champions in the Men's 1500 metres
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
Finland This biographical article relating to Finnish athletics (track and field) is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.