15 Facts About Ville Ritola

Vilho "Ville" Eino Ritola was a Finnish long-distance runner.

Ville Ritola was the 14th child in his family and had altogether 19 siblings, five of whom died in infancy.

Kolehmainen tried to convince the young Ville Ritola to join the Finnish 1920 Summer Olympics team, but Ville Ritola stated that he was not ready yet.

Ville Ritola had a start on eight consecutive days to achieve this, all long-distance.

Three days later, Ville Ritola won the 3000 m steeplechase by 75 metres.

Ville Ritola later earned another silver medal behind Nurmi in the individual cross-country race and gained a gold medal as a member of the Finnish cross-country team.

Finally, Ville Ritola joined Nurmi to win the 3000 m team race.

In 1928, Ville Ritola was 32 years old and had worked in construction for more than a decade.

Ville Ritola had not trained systematically even though he still had won four gold medals in the AAU Championships 1927.

Ville Ritola took the lead at 1,500m, and only four competitors followed.

Ville Ritola never competed in the Finnish championships, but won a handful of medals in the AAU Championships in the United States.

Ville Ritola retired from athletics soon after the 1928 Olympic Games.

Ville Ritola took part in only a few US competitions after 1928.

Ville Ritola returned to American construction sites and worked in physically demanding jobs until 1959.

Ville Ritola moved back to Helsinki, Finland with his wife in 1971 and died in Helsinki aged 86.