Erkki Kataja

Erkki Olavi Kataja ( born June 19, 1924 in Kuusankoski, † April 27, 1969 ) was a Finnish athlete.

He won the silver medal in the pole vault at the 1948 Olympic Games in London. Just like the third place of the finale, the later two -time Olympic champion Bob Richards from the United States, he jumped over 4.20 m, however, Kataja performed at this level, in contrast to Richards no mistrial. It won the American Guinn Smith with a capacity of 4.30 m.

At the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki Kataja reached before the home crowd with 4.10 m only tenth. His personal best in the pole vault is 4.27 meters, achieved 1950. He was 1.77 m tall and had a competition weight of 68 kg.