Know Your Olympics - Paris Olympics 1924

Paavo Nurmi - The Flying Finn

Paavo Nurmi - The Flying Finn who flew really high at the Paris Olympics

The 1924 Olympics also saw the towering success of Paavo Nurmi. The Finnish soldier had made the world take notice with a staggering three gold medals and one silver medal from the 1920 Games held at Antwerp.

In 1923, Nurmi became the first runner to hold simultaneous world records in the mile, the 5000m and the 10,000m races, a feat which has never since been repeated. However, at the Paris Olympics, Paavo was literally on a roll.

He set new world records for both 1500m and 5000m. He did that, despite the two races being an hour apart. He also won gold medals in cross country events. Seemingly unaffected by the Paris heat wave, Nurmi won all his races and returned home with five gold medals.

However, he was angry with the Finnish authorities. In his eyes, they denied him a record sixth gold medal by deliberately not entering his name for the 10000m. He further returned to win a gold medal and two silver medals at the 1928 edition of the Summer Olympics, held in Amsterdam.