Markku Taskinen
{{short description|Finnish former athlete (born 1952)}}
{{Infobox sportsperson
|name=Markku Taskinen
|birth_date={{birth date and age|1952|02|25|df=y}}
|height={{convert|185|cm|ftin|abbr=on}}
|weight={{convert|66|kg|lb|abbr=on}}
|sport=Athletics
|club=Viipurin Urheilijat
|pb=400 m: 47.12 (1975)
800 m:1:45.89 (1974)
400 m hurdles: 51.92 (1979)
|medaltemplates={{MedalCountry|{{FIN}} }}
{{MedalCompetition|European Championships}}
{{MedalBronze|1974 Rome|800 m}}
{{MedalBronze|1974 Rome|4 × 400 m relay}}
{{MedalCompetition|European Indoor Championships}}
{{MedalGold|1978 Milan|800 metres}}
}}
Markku Aulis Taskinen (born 25 February 1952) is a Finnish former athlete. At the 1974 European Championships he won bronze medals in both the 800 metres and the 4 × 400 metres relay. He was European indoor champion at 800 metres in 1978.
Career
Taskinen was Finnish national under-19 champion at 800 m in 1970 and national under-21 champion at both 400 m and 800 m in 1971.{{tilastopaja|id=6630|fi=yes}} He won his first national senior titles in 1973, winning both 400 m (47.9) and 800 m (1:50.0) at the Finnish championships. He repeated as 800 m champion in 1974, but was not expected to even make the final at that year's European Championships in Rome.{{cite web |url=http://www.yleisurheilunkuvalehti.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=917:em-kilpailujen-historiasarja-osa-1-suomi-kahmi-torinosta-13-mitalia-vuonna-1934&catid=38:kotimaa&Itemid=18 |publisher=Yleisurheilun Kuvalehti |title=Osa 11, Rooma 1974: Kymmenen mitalin mahtipeijaiset |language=Finnish |accessdate=17 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141217235631/http://www.yleisurheilunkuvalehti.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=917:em-kilpailujen-historiasarja-osa-1-suomi-kahmi-torinosta-13-mitalia-vuonna-1934&catid=38:kotimaa&Itemid=18 |archive-date=17 December 2014 |url-status=dead }}
At the European championships he placed third in his heat (1:48.7) and fourth in his semi-final (1:47.7); he was the last athlete to qualify for the final.{{cite web |format=PDF |url=http://www.european-athletics.org/mm/Document/EventsMeetings/General/01/27/31/44/StatisticsHandbookZ%C3%BCrich2014_Neutral.pdf |title=European Athletics Championships Zürich 2014: Statistics Handbook |author=Jalava, Mirko |publisher=European Athletics |accessdate=4 December 2014 |year=2014}} In the final he was in last place with less than 100 m to go, but passed five athletes on the final straight and won bronze behind Luciano Sušanj and Steve Ovett; his time of 1:45.89 improved his personal best by more than a second and a half. He won a second medal in the 4 × 400 m relay, running the third leg for the Finnish team; Finland was disqualified for shoving after a French protest, but filed a successful counter-protest and regained the medal.
Taskinen won further Finnish 800 m titles in 1975, 1976 and 1978; counting indoor titles (one each at 400 m and 800 m) and relay titles (one at 4 × 400 m and two at 4 × 800 m), he is an 11-time Finnish champion. At the 1978 European Indoor Championships in Milan he won gold in the 800 metres, ahead of East Germany's Olaf Beyer;{{cite book |url=http://www.european-athletics.org/files/eich/EICH2013-statistics.pdf |publisher=European Athletics |page=494 |editor=Jalava, Mirko |title=2013 European Indoor Championships Statistics Handbook}} {{as of|2014|lc=y}}, his winning time of 1:47.36 still remains the Finnish indoor record, though Wilson Kirwa and Ari Suhonen have run faster on oversized tracks.{{cite web |url=http://www.tilastopaja.org/db/fi/toplist.php?list=alltilastotv&All=0&Ind=1&Season=2008&age=0 |title=Suomen kaikkien aikojen hallitilasto |author=Jalava, Juhani |language=Finnish |publisher=Tilastopaja}} At the 1978 European outdoor championships in Prague Taskinen again took part in the 800 metres, but was eliminated in the semi-finals.
In 1979 Taskinen experimented with the 400 m hurdles, representing Finland in that event at the Finland-Sweden Athletics International and winning silver in it at the national championships.
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Footer European Indoor Champions 800m Men}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taskinen, Markku}}
Category:Finnish male sprinters
Category:Finnish male middle-distance runners
Category:European Athletics Championships medalists
Category:Athletes from North Ostrobothnia