Olympic Champion Paavo Nurmi

"Success in sport as in almost anything comes from devotion. The athlete must make a devotion of his specialty." That is what Paavo Nurmi is quoted as having said. He should know!

Paavo Nurmi is arguably the most famous person to ever hail from Finland. During the late 1920s, Finland had just gained its independence from Russia. It had been a long and difficult journey and Finland had little standing among the free nations of the world. It is said that Paavo Nurmi ran Finland onto the world map. That's a good description of what his successes in running accomplished.

Paavo was a very private person who didn't really like being in the spotlight. It's said that he had "tunnel vision" when it came to running. Running was his passion, and he was never satisfied with his performance — not even when he won gold medals.

In spite of his dislike of the spotlight, however, Paavo was seen as the unofficial goodwill ambassador for Finland at a time when Finland needed all the help that it could get.

Paavo Nurmi was an athlete who was way ahead of his time. He trained with an intensity and determination never before seen in athletics of any kind. All that Paavo Nurmi was interested in was running. It was his passion and his sole ambition was to run faster and further than any human being before him.

He used a stopwatch to increase his speed and his endurance and over a running career that lasted 12 years, he set 25 world records at distances from 1,500 meters to 20,000 meters.

He was born in 1897 in Turku, a city in southwestern Finland. Paavo Nurmi died at the age of 76 and he was laid to rest in his hometown in 1973.