Martti Tolamo
{{Short description|Finnish athlete (1907–1940)}}
{{Infobox sportsperson
| image =Martti Tolamo.jpg
| imagesize =
| name = Martti Tolamo
| birth_name = Martti Leo Topelius
| caption =
| sport =
| nationality = Finnish
| club =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1907|02|21|df=yes}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1940|03|14|1907|02|21|df=yes}}
| death_place =
| height= {{convert|1.84|m|ftin|abbr=on}}
| weight= {{convert|76|kg|lb|abbr=on}}
| coach =
| pb = Pentathlon: 4011 (1930)
Long jump: 7.51 (1934)
| medaltemplates =
{{MedalSport |Men's athletics}}
{{MedalCountry|{{Flagu|Finland}} }}
{{MedalCompetition|International University Games}}
{{MedalGold|1930 Darmstadt|Pentathlon}}
{{MedalSilver|1933 Turin|Long jump}}
{{MedalBronze|1933 Turin|Pentathlon}}
}}
Martti Leo Tolamo (born Topelius; 21 February 1907 – 14 March 1940) was a Finnish athlete. He competed in the Olympic Games as a decathlete and a long jumper; his other strong event was the non-Olympic pentathlon, in which he broke the unofficial world record in 1930 and won two medals, including a gold, at the International University Games.
Career
At the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam, Tolamo competed in the decathlon, placing 16th.{{cite web |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/to/martti-tolamo-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417175657/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/to/martti-tolamo-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 April 2020 |title=Martti Tolamo Bio, Stats and Results |accessdate=11 April 2014 |publisher=Sports Reference LLC}} The following year he exceeded the Finnish long jump record with a jump of 7.42 m, but due to wind assistance that record could not be ratified.{{cite book |title=Huippu-urheilun historia |year=1935 |publisher=Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö |author=Jukola, Martti |language=Finnish}}
At the 1930 Finnish Championships at Tampere he won the pentathlon with 4011 points, an unofficial world record. He also triumphed at that year's International University Games, scoring 3979 points to secure gold ahead of Latvia's Jānis Dimza.{{cite magazine |url=http://www.gbrathletics.com/ic/wsg.htm |title=WORLD STUDENT GAMES (PRE-UNIVERSIADE) |magazine=Athletics Weekly |accessdate=11 April 2014}} Tolamo's world record was broken the following year by compatriot javelin thrower Matti Sippala; however, with modern scoring tables Tolamo's score would have remained the record, and it eventually re-emerged as a national pentathlon best, only broken in 2007.{{cite web |url=http://www.sul.fi/uutiset/jarjestotoiminta/77-vuotias-suomen-ennatys-rikottiin-5-ottelussa |title=77-vuotias Suomen ennätys rikottiin 5-ottelussa |publisher=Suomen Urheiluliitto |language=Finnish |accessdate=11 April 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413130724/http://www.sul.fi/uutiset/jarjestotoiminta/77-vuotias-suomen-ennatys-rikottiin-5-ottelussa |archive-date=13 April 2014 }}
Tolamo legitimately broke the Finnish long jump record in 1933 in a dual meet between Finland and Norway, jumping 7.46 m.{{tilastopaja|id=6937|fi=yes}} At that year's International University Games he won silver in the long jump and bronze in the pentathlon. He broke his own national long jump record in September 1934, in another dual meet (between Finland and Germany); he jumped 7.51 m and defeated both Wilhelm Leichum, who had won the European championship the previous week, and future Olympic silver medalist Luz Long. That jump remained the Finnish record until 1954, when Jorma Valkama broke it.{{cite web |url=http://www.saunalahti.fi/~sut/1954/020954.html |publisher=Suomen Urheilutietäjät |language=Finnish |author=Hakalax, Jari |accessdate=11 April 2014 |title=Urheiluvuosi 1954}}
Tolamo returned to the Olympics in 1936, competing in both the decathlon and the long jump. He failed to make the final in the long jump and did not finish in the decathlon.
He was wounded in action in March 1940 and died in war hospital five days later.{{cite web |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/friv/lists.cgi?id=65 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417055433/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/friv/lists.cgi?id=65 |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 April 2020 |title=Olympians Who Were Killed or Missing in Action or Died as a Result of War |accessdate=24 July 2018 |work=Sports Reference}}
References
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Category:People from Kangasniemi
Category:People from Mikkeli Province (Grand Duchy of Finland)
Category:Finnish male long jumpers
Category:Olympic athletes for Finland
Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1928 Summer Olympics
Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics
Category:Athletes from South Savo