Вильхо Ритола: Легенда финских бегов на длинные дистанции

Finnish long distance runner

Vilho "Ville" Eino Ritola (18 January 1896 – 24 April 1982) was a Finnish long distance runner. Known as one of the "Flying Finns", he won five Olympic gold medals and three Olympic silver medals in the 1920s. He holds the record of winning most athletics medals at a single Games – four golds and two silvers in Paris 1924 and ranks second in terms of most athletics gold medals at a single Games.

Ritola's parents, Johannes Ritola (1851–1944) and Serafia Gevär (1863–1919), were farmers in western Finland near Seinäjoki. He was born in Peräseinäjoki, Finland. He was the 14th child in his family and had altogether 19 siblings, five of whom died in infancy. Six of the children were from his father's first marriage, 14 from the second, including Ville. In 1913 he followed seven of his siblings and emigrated to the United States to work as a carpenter. There he started training in 1919 when he was already 23 years old. Later he referred many times to this late start of his sports career, and how it put him at a disadvantage compared to his rivals, especially the more famous of the Flying Finns, Paavo Nurmi, who started systematic training in his teens. In 1919 he joined the Finnish American Athletic Club and trained together with Hannes Kolehmainen, who had moved to the United States after the 1912 Summer Olympics. In spring 1919 he took part in his first competition, a New York street race, and finished 33rd among 700 competitors. It was only after this that he started to train systematically. Three days later, Ritola won the 3000 m steeplechase by 75 metres. The next day he finished second in the 5000 m, 0.2 seconds behind Nurmi. Ritola later earned another silver medal behind Nurmi in the individual cross country race and gained a gold medal as a member of the Finnish cross country team. Finally, Ritola joined Nurmi to win the 3000 m team race. These were not official world records as they were run indoors.

In 1928, Ritola was 32 years old and had worked in construction for more than a decade. He had not trained systematically even though he still had won four gold medals in the AAU Championships 1927. Ritola's last Olympic appearance was in the 5,000 m at the 1928 Summer Olympics. Both Ritola and Nurmi had hurt themselves in the steeplechase qualification competitions. Nurmi had a sore hip and Ritola a sore ankle. However, Ritola again took the lead at 2,500m. At 600m before the finish, only Ritola and Nurmi were left in the leading group. This time, Ritola pulled away from Nurmi in the final curve and won by 12 metres 3 seconds. Wide nearly caught Nurmi, and Nurmi only held on to silver by a 0.2s margin. This victory brought Ritola's career total to five Olympic gold medals and three silver medals. Ritola never competed in the Finnish championships, but won a handful of medals in the AAU Championships in the United States. He was the AAU champion at 6 mile (10 km) in 1927, at 10 mile (16 km) road race in 1922, 1923 and from 1925 to 1927, at steeplechase in 1923, 1926 and 1927 and at cross country in 1922, 1923 and from 1925 to 1927.

Ritola retired from athletics soon after the 1928 Olympic Games. He took part in only a few US competitions after 1928. He returned to American construction sites and worked in physically demanding jobs until 1959. He took US citizenship in 1937. His daughter, Anja Impola, married and lived in the US until her death in 2013. Ritola's wife Selma died in 1965 and he remarried, to Liisa Lauren, in 1967. Ritola moved back to Helsinki, Finland with his wife in 1971 and died in Helsinki aged 86.

Ritola's career inspired a phrase into colloquial Finnish. "Ottaa ritolat", translating as something like "pull a Ritola", means to make a quick exit from somewhere.