Matti Henrikki Järvinen (February 18, 1909, Tampere

Tampere

Tampere is a city in southern Finland. It is the most populous inland city in any of the Nordic countries. The city has a population of , growing to approximately 300,000 people in the conurbation and over 340,000 in the metropolitan area. Tampere is the third most-populous municipality in...

 – July 22, 1985) was a Finnish

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 javelin throw

Javelin throw

The javelin throw is a track and field athletics throwing event where the object to be thrown is the javelin, a spear approximately 2.5 metres in length. Javelin is an event of both the men's decathlon and the women's heptathlon...

er. He won the Olympic gold medal at the 1932 Summer Olympics

1932 Summer Olympics

The 1932 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the X Olympiad, was a major world wide multi-athletic event which was celebrated in 1932 in Los Angeles, California, United States. No other cities made a bid to host these Olympics. Held during the worldwide Great Depression, many nations...

 ahead of two other Finns, Matti Sippala

Matti Sippala

Matti Kalervo Sippala was a Finnish athlete who competed mainly in the javelin throw. He was born in Hollola....

 and Eino Penttilä

Eino Penttilä

Eino Penttilä was a Finnish athlete who mainly competed in the men's javelin throw during his career....

. The Finns considered other competitors' throwing styles naive, and didn't bother to take off their tracksuit

Tracksuit

A tracksuit is an article of clothing consisting of two parts: trousers and a jacket usually with front zipper. It was originally intended for use in sports, mainly as what athletes wore over competition clothing and would take off before competition. In modern times, it has become commonly worn...

s during the event.

Besides his Olympic gold, Järvinen is remembered for his numerous world records. During the years from 1930 to 1936, he broke the IAAF

Official

An official is someone who holds an office in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority .A government official or functionary is an official who is involved in public...

 javelin throw world record a record 10 times in a row. He also became the European champion

European Championships in Athletics

The European Athletics Championships is an event organized by the European Athletic Association. It is organised every four years, the same year as the Commonwealth Games and between the Summer Olympic Games cycle. After the 2010 Championships in Barcelona, the European Championships will take...

 in 1934 and defended his title successfully in 1938. In the 1936 Summer Olympics

1936 Summer Olympics

The 1936 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was held in 1936 in Berlin, Germany. Berlin won the bid to host the Games over Barcelona, Spain on April 26, 1931, at the 29th IOC Session in Barcelona...

 Järvinen suffered from injuries and finished fifth.

Järvinen, who became known as "Mr. Javelin", was the son of Verner Järvinen

Verner Järvinen

Venne "Verner" Järvinen was a Finnish athlete who competed mostly in the throwing events. A gold medalist in the Greek-style discus from the 1906 Intercalated Games, he went on to win a bronze in the same event at the 1908 Summer Olympics.-Career:Originally one of Finland's leading wrestlers, he...

, Olympic champion and two-time Bronze medalist in discus throw

Discus throw

The discus throw is an event in track and field athletics competition, in which an athlete throws a heavy disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than his or her competitors. It is an ancient sport, as evidenced by the 5th century BC Myron statue, Discobolus...

. His brother Akilles Järvinen

Akilles Järvinen

Akilles Eero Johannes Järvinen was a Finnish athlete and decathlete and Olympic medallist....

 was a decathlon

Decathlon

The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word decathlon is of Greek origin . Events are held over two consecutive days and the winners are determined by the combined performance in all. Performance is judged on a points system in each event, not...

 world record holder and two-time Olympic silver medalist. His other brother Kalle was a top-level athlete in shot put

Shot put

The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" a heavy metal ball—the shot—as far as possible. It is common to use the term "shot put" to refer to both the shot itself and to the putting action....

.

World records

Result (m)	Date	Venue
71.57	August 8, 1930	Vyborg Vyborg Vyborg is a town in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, situated on the Karelian Isthmus near the head of the Bay of Vyborg, to the northwest of St. Petersburg and south from Russia's border with Finland, where the Saimaa Canal enters the Gulf of Finland...
71.70	August 17, 1930	Tampere Tampere Tampere is a city in southern Finland. It is the most populous inland city in any of the Nordic countries. The city has a population of , growing to approximately 300,000 people in the conurbation and over 340,000 in the metropolitan area. Tampere is the third most-populous municipality in...
71.88	August 31, 1930	Vaasa Vaasa Vaasa is a city on the west coast of Finland. It received its charter in 1606, during the reign of Charles IX of Sweden and is named after the Royal House of Vasa...
72.93	September 14, 1930	Vyborg
74.02	June 27, 1932	Turku Turku Turku is a city situated on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River. It is located in the region of Finland Proper. It is believed that Turku came into existence during the end of the 13th century which makes it the oldest city in Finland...
74.28	May 25, 1933	Mikkeli Mikkeli Mikkeli is a town and municipality in Finland. It is located in what used to be the province of Eastern Finland and is part of the Southern Savonia region. The municipality has a population of and covers an area of of which is water...
74.61	June 7, 1933	Vaasa
76.10	June 15, 1933	Helsinki Helsinki Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
76.66	September 7, 1934	Turin Turin Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
77.23	June 18, 1936	Helsinki

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