Armas Taipale
Finnish athlete
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Armas Rudolf Taipale (27 July 1890 – 9 November 1976) was a Finnish athlete,[1] who competed at three Olympic Games in 1912, 1920 and 1924 and won two gold medals and a silver medal.
(aged 86)
Taipale at the 1912 Olympics | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | 27 July 1890 Helsinki, Finland |
| Died | 9 November 1976 (aged 86) Turku, Finland |
| Height | 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) |
| Weight | 90–95 kg (198–209 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Athletics |
| Event(s) | Discus throw, shot put |
| Club | HKV, Helsinki |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personal best(s) | DT – 48.90 m (1914) SP – 13.855 m (1919); |
Medal record | |
Career
Taipale started competing in 1908 and won three Finnish titles in the discus throw and two in the shot put.
At the 1912 Olympic Games he won gold medals in two discus throw events, conventional and two-handed,[2][3] where the total was counted as a sum of best throws with a left hand and with a right hand.
In 1914, he won the British AAA Championships title in both shot put and discus throw at the 1914 AAA Championships.[4][5][6]
After World War I, he won a silver medal in the conventional discus throw at the 1920 Summer Olympics and finished tenth in the shot put. At the 1924 Summer Olympics, he competed only in the discus throw and finished in 12th place.
Taipale set two unofficial world records in the discus.[7]
Besides athletics, he competed in Greco-Roman wrestling at the Nordic Games and played association football. In 1923, he immigrated to the United States but returned to Finland in 1974. He was a businessman and lawyer by occupation.[7]
