Pekka Antero Vasala (born April 17, 1948 in Riihimäki

Riihimäki

Riihimäki is a town and municipality in the south of Finland, about north of Helsinki and southeast of Tampere. It is somewhat of a railway junction, since the railway tracks going from different parts of the nation to Helsinki merge there. Sako, Ltd...

) was a middle-distance athlete who won an Olympic

Olympic Games

The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

 gold medal in the 1972 Summer Olympics

1972 Summer Olympics

The 1972 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from August 26 to September 11, 1972....

 in Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

.

At the 1968 Summer Olympics

1968 Summer Olympics

The 1968 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Mexico City, Mexico in October 1968. The 1968 Games were the first Olympic Games hosted by a developing country, and the first Games hosted by a Spanish-speaking country...

 in Mexico City

Mexico City

Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...

 he came in 41st in the 1500 m, but would go onto improve his competitiveness considerably. Part of this was down to his legendary hill training of which he said "[it] is suicidal for other runners to copy my hill sessions without adequate background".

In Munich he won the 1500 m race in a time of 3 minutes 36.3 seconds, ahead of the legendary Kip Keino and Rod Dixon

Rod Dixon

Rodney Phillip "Rod" Dixon is a former New Zealand middle distance runner. He won the bronze medal over 1500 metres at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, and in 1983 won the prestigious New York City Marathon.-Biography:...

. This marked a memorable day for 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...

 athletics because the great Lasse Virén

Lasse Virén

Lasse Artturi Virén is a former Finnish long-distance runner, winner of four gold medals at the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics...

 won the 5,000 m at the same Games within half an hour.

His nephew, Samuli Vasala, also an athlete, won the 2003 Nordic Cross Country Championships

Nordic Cross Country Championships

The Nordic Cross Country Championships is an annual international cross country running competition that is contested between the Nordic countries...

. Vasala is the son-in-law of Martti Matilainen.

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