Truemors
is reporting from
Member
NP Rank:
NP Rank:
Finland's Javelin World Champion Pitkämäki Gears up for Encounter with Norway's Thorkildsen
Share: 
by Christina 123 | August 10, 2008 at 08:32 am
1367 views | 2 Recommendations | 1 comment
Videos
Photos
Paavo Nurmi -Finland Medal Hopes Beijing 2008: Faster, Stronger, Higher (& Furthest in Javelin!)
uploaded by Christina 123
Scandinavian eyes will be on the Men's Javelin qualifying rounds tomorrow (Thursday 21st August 2008, Final: Friday 23rd August 2008, times below), when World Champion Finland's Tero Pitkämäki squares up to friendly rival Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway. Pitkämäki will need a throw of between 88- 89 metres. His best throw of the season is 87,70. Andreas Thorkildsen's best throw of the season, 87,73.
The two men compete in the same Group, B. Speculation is rife as to what colour, style and brand Thorkildsen's javelin will be, as he is famous for having a choice of the latest trendy ones.
Who said the field events were spartan?
The Finnish Olympic Committee set a target of three medals from Beijing, one of which was to be gold, and this has now been reached, with one medal of each colour so far.
Satu Mäkelä-Nummela won the women's trap shooting and Henri Häkkinen took a bronze in the air rifle event.
The fact that the formal objective has been satisfied may take a little of the pressure off the shoulders of Tero Pitkämäki, the current javelin World Champion, as he prepares for his encounter with friend and rival Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway.
Pitkämäki, who has been short of his best form in recent months, will take part in qualifying for the javelin final on Thursday
---------------------------------------
FINLAND fields a team of 62 athletes, a larger team than in 2004. Finland is most famous for the Javelin this year, for which they are expecting GOLD in the form of Tero Pitkämäki, and a special event has been arranged in LONDON for Anglo-Finns to watch it LIVE together at a special venue.
Qualifying Rounds
Thursday 21.8
02.10-03.15am Men's Javelin, qual. round, group A
03.40-04.45am Men's Javelin, qual. round, group B
Final: 23rd August 2008 12:00pm-1:30pm
Note it in your diary now!
PAAVO NURMI known as the "Flying Finn" won a tremendous number of consecutive gold medals in long-distance running, and the tradition has been kept up since, notably by Lasse Viren.
DISCUS and SHOT PUTTING are also a speciality as Finns have a "strong man" tradition as well as long-distance.
Finland has targeted at three medals including a gold in Beijing.
In the Athens Games four years ago, Finland picked two silver medals, ranked 62nd on the medal tally. It was the only Olympics that the Finns came home without a gold. In its peak time, Finland swept 15 golds at the Antwerp Olympics in 1920.
The Finns are pinning hopes on Tero Pitkamaki, a world leading javelin thrower, to deliver gold.
Since its Olympic debut in 1908, Finland has won a total of 295 medals at the Summer Games, mostly in athletics and wrestling, and 151 medals at the Winter Games, mainly from nordic skiing.
Advertisement
NowPublic on Facebook
What is NowPublic?
NowPublic lets people work together to cover news events around the world.
Crowd Power
Christina 123
LONDON, United Kingdom
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (1)
at 19:52 on August 20th, 2008
Christina 123, I like this story. It's good stuff.