Arnold Viiding

Viiding Arnold ( born March 19, 1911 in Valga, † October 20th 2006 in Sydney) was an Estonian athlete. It was 1934, the first European champion in the shot put. At a height of 1.87 m, it had a competition weight of 94 kg.

From 7 to 9 September 1934, held the first European Athletics Championships in Turin. On the final day were 13 shot putter on the decision, including the later Olympic champion Hans Woellke, but only was eighth. The world record by the American Jack Torrance stood at 17.40 meters, the European record of Czechs František Douda 16.20 meters. In Turin, a very close and exciting final in the developed ultimately the first three athletes were an inch apart. Douda was 15.18 meters with a third party, Arnold Viiding won with 15.19 meters ahead of the remaining tie Finns Risto Kuntsi. Viiding who finished fifth in the discus throw one day before his victory with 45.51 meters.

From 1931 to 1936 was six times Viiding Estonian champion in the shot put, he won three times in addition to the title in the discus throw. At the Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936, he was with 15.23 meters aft. 1936, Viiding with 16,065 yards on his best. This performance was surpassed as the Estonian record in 1938 by Aleksander Kreek.

In 1932 Viiding in the Estonian police, in 1940, he graduated in law at the University of Tartu. During the period of German occupation, he was commander of the Police Academy of the Security Police. In 1944, he fled first to Germany in 1949 to Australia. There he ran from 1953 to 1979, a plastic processing factory.