Team Finland - Profile

Highlights:

Finland first competed at the Olympic Games in 1908 and has sent a team to every Games since. The NOC claimed five medals in 1908 in London, with Greco-Roman wrestler Verner Johan Weckman winning Finland's first Olympic gold medal in the men's 90kg category.

Finland experienced a golden period in its Olympic history during the early part of the 20th century. Distance runner Paavo Nurmi, who is Finland's most successful Olympic athlete of all time, claimed three gold medals in 1920 and five gold medals four years later in Paris. He also won a further gold medal at the 1928 Games in Amsterdam to take his total to nine - four more than any other athlete from Finland. Nurmi is one of four athletes from all nations to have won nine gold medals at the Olympic Games, with US swimmer Michael Phelps the only athlete to have claimed more Olympic gold medals than Nurmi.

Distance runner Ville Ritola sits second on Finland's Olympic medal table, having won a total of five gold medals and three silver medals across the 1920 and 1924 Games, while Hannes Kolehmainen claimed gold medals in the 10,000m, 5000m, and individual cross-country at the 1912 Games in Stockholm, and then secured marathon gold in 1920. Another notable runner is Lasse Viren, who completed the 5000m-10,000m double in Munich in 1972 and then repeated the feat four years later in Montreal.

Athletes from the NOC have also consistently finished on the podium in javelin throw, with Finnish men winning an impressive 22 medals [seven gold, eight silver, seven bronze] in the discipline between 1912 and 2012. Jonni Myyra is the only Finnish athlete to have won two gold medals in javelin throw, in 1920 and 1924, but the NOC has had more recent success too, securing seven men's javelin medals from 1984 onwards. Heli Rantanen was the first female athlete to win Olympic gold in javelin throw, claiming victory at the 1996 Games in Atlanta.

Only two other female athletes have won Olympic gold medals for Finland. Sylvi Saimo triumphed in the K1 500m canoe sprint in 1952 when the NOC hosted the Games in Helsinki, while trap shooter Satu Makela-Nummela claimed gold at the 2008 Games in Beijing.

Anthem Title: Maamme [Our Land]

Anthem Composer: Words by Johan Ludvig Runeberg and Paavo Eemil Kajander. Music by Fredrik Pacius.

Anthem Inducted: 1848

Official NOC Name: Finnish Olympic Committee

Founding Date: 1907

IOC Recognition Date: 1907

Delegation President: Jan Vapaavuori

Delegation Secretary General: Mikko Salonen

IOC Members: Sari Essayah [entry in the IOC: 2016]; Emma Terho [entry in the IOC: 2018]

First OG/PG Appearance: 1908

Number OG/PG Appearances: 26 [Tokyo 2020 included]

Summary: