Heikki Savolainen

Heikki Savolainen (gymnast) Personal information Country Represented:  Finland Date of birth: September 28, 1907(1907-09-28) Date of death: November 29, 1997 (aged 90) Discipline: Men's artistic gymnastics

Medal record Men's Artistic gymnastics Gold 1948 London Pommel horse Gold 1948 London Team competition Silver 1932 Los Angeles Horizontal bar Bronze 1928 Amsterdam Pommel horse Bronze 1932 Los Angeles All-Around Bronze 1932 Los Angeles Parallel bars Bronze 1932 Los Angeles Team competition Bronze 1936 Berlin Team competition Bronze 1952 Helsinki Team competition

Heikki Ilmari Savolainen (September 28, 1907 — November 29, 1997) was one of the most successful Finnish gymnasts and a two-time olympic winner.

Savolainen's career as a top gymnast lasted for six Summer Olympics. In 1928 in Amsterdam he won bronze on pommel horse, which was the first ever medal in gymnastics for Finland. Winning his last medal at 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, he was the oldest gymnastics medalist ever at 44 years old. In the opening ceremony of the same olympics, he was the one to deliver the Olympic Oath.^[1] Together with Harri Kirvesniemi, Alexei Nemov, and Franziska van Almsick, Savolainen has a record breaking six bronze medals.

In the 1932 horizontal bar event Savolainen and his team mate Einari Teräsvirta had the same score, but the Finnish team decided to give the silver medal to Savolainen. In the 1948 pommel horse event Savolainen again had the same score with team mates Veikko Huhtanen and Paavo Aaltonen, and the gold medal was shared between the three.

Heikki Savolainen graduated as a physical education teacher in 1931, and a Doctor of Medicine in 1939, after which he started working as a doctor in his home town Kajaani, Finland. During the Winter War he served with the rank Lieutenant colonel as the head doctor in a military hospital.

Savolainen was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2004.^[2]

References

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