Kalevi Kotkas

Kalevi Kotkas ( born August 10, 1913 in Tallinn, † August 24, 1983 in Vantaa, Finland) was a Finnish athlete.

Kotkas, of a competition weight of 100 kg exhibited at a height of 1.94 m, was divided into two disciplines world-class, high jump and discus throw, which is quite an unusual combination.

Olympic games

At the Olympic Games 1932 in Los Angeles, he finished with 45.87 7th place in the discus throw. Four years later at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, he did not survive the discus qualification. In the high jump Cornelius Johnson United States won gold with Olympic record of 2.03 m. Kotkas jumped over 2.00 m as the two Americans, Dave Albritton and Delos Thurber. In the jump- Albritton jumped over 1.97 m and 1.95 m Thurber while Kotkas failed in two heights. Thus, he was ranked fourth

European Championships

When the first European Athletics Championships 1934 Kotkas was 10th in the discus throw. In the high jump, he became European Champion with 2.00 m. At the European Championships in 1938 Kotkas was fourth with 48.63 m and 9 cm behind bronze in the discus throw. In short it discharged competition in the high jump with 1.94 m Kotkas won silver behind the Kurt Lundqvist Sweden with 1.97 m.

Bests

• High Jump 2.04
• Discus Throw 51.27