Friedrich Issak

At the 1937 International University Games in Paris Issak won gold in the javelin with a throw of 70.25 m, a meeting record that was only broken twenty years later.^[1][2] His best throw that year, 70.56 m, placed him sixth on the annual world list.^[1][3] Issak placed fifth at the 1938 European Championships, also in Paris, and recorded his personal best (72.07 m) in Tartu in July 1939.^[3][4] At that year's International University Games in Vienna he won the bronze medal with 66.79 m.^[2]

He was Estonian champion in the javelin in 1940, 1946 and 1947 and Soviet champion in 1943, 1944 and 1947.^[1] Additionally, he was Estonian basketball champion three times from 1938 to 1940 with Tartu EASK.^[1] He also won national championship medals in volleyball.^[1]

During World War II Issak served in the Red Army^[1] and the destruction battalions.^[5] In 1944 he became editor of the sports magazine Kehakultuur, a post he held until 1951.^[1] From 1958 to 1978 he worked for the culture magazine Kultuur ja Elu, eventually becoming its editor-in-chief.^[1] His memoir Nood rohtunud rajad was published in 1988.^[1]