Mikko Yrjö Ilmari Kolehmainen (born 18 August 1964 in Mikkeli) is a Finnish canoe sprinter who competed from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. Competing in four Summer Olympics, he won the gold medal in the K-1 500 m event at Barcelona in 1992.[1] Kolehmainen's victory was Finland's only gold medal at those games.
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men's canoe sprint | ||
| Olympic Games | ||
 |
1992 Barcelona | K-1 500 m |
| World Championships | ||
|
1993 Copenhagen | K-1 500 m |
By now established as Finland's strongest kayak sprinter, he concentrated in the K-1 500 m discipline. Although a respected competitor at international regattas he never really threatened the top paddlers for the major prizes. At the 1991 World Championships in Paris he finished a creditable seventh.
It was therefore a major shock when, at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, he won the K-1 500 m gold medal. His victory over reigning champion Zsolt Gyulay of Hungary gave Finland their only gold medal of an otherwise disappointing Games.
A year later he showed that his Barcelona performance was no fluke by winning the world championship K-1 500 m title in Copenhagen. At his farewell Olympics, in Atlanta in 1996 he finished in seventh place, and carried the flag at the opening ceremony.
References
edit- ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Mikko Kolehmainen". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 4 December 2016.
- ICF medalists for Olympic and World Championships – Part 1: flatwater (now sprint): 1936–2007 at the Wayback Machine (archived 2010-01-05)
- ICF medalists for Olympic and World Championships – Part 2: rest of flatwater (now sprint) and remaining canoeing disciplines: 1936–2007 at WebCite (archived 2009-11-09)
External links
edit- Mikko Kolehmainen at Olympedia
- Mikko Kolehmainen at Olympics.com
- Mikko Kolehmainen at Olympiakomitea.fi (in Finnish)
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