Volmari Iso-Hollo

Volmari Fritijof " Vomma " Iso - Hollo ( born May 1, 1907 in Ylöjärvi, † June 23, 1969 in Heinola ) was a Finnish athlete and two-time Olympic champion in the 3,000 -meter steeplechase.

Career

Iso - Hollo was one of the last in a series of Finnish long distance runners, who were called because of their superiority between the two world wars "Flying Finns ". As a teenager Iso - Hollo tried in cross-country skiing, gymnastics and boxing. When he entered the army, he began athletics training. He denied race on all medium and long distances, from the 400 - meter dash to the marathon.

At the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles Iso - Hollo won its first gold medal in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. A possible world record was prevented because the officials themselves were mistaken in the number of laps completed. The official lap counter looked in the wrong direction, because he would rather watch the pole vault competition at the decathlete. As Iso - Hollo had reached the final round, forgot the official to ring the bell. The entire field ran on a round until the runners were eventually stopped after 3460 meters. If everything were properly performed Iso - Hollo would have broken the world record. A few days later he won the silver medal in the 10,000 -meter run.

1933 broke Iso - Hollo nevertheless the world record in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and ran a time of 9:09,4 minutes. At the Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936, he was the top favorite. The 3000 -meter steeplechase won Iso - Hollo new world record ( 9:03,8 min); the first three all had undercut the old world record time. Iso - Hollo occurred also in the 10,000 meters and won a bronze medal.