Heikki Savolainen (gymnast)

Heikki Ilmari Savolainen (28 September 1907 – 29 November 1997) was a Finnish artistic gymnast. He competed in five consecutive Olympics from 1928 to 1952 and won at least one medal in each of them.[1] In 1928, he won a bronze on pommel horse, which was the first-ever medal in gymnastics for Finland. Winning his last medal at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, he became the oldest gymnastics medalist, at 44 years old; he delivered the Olympic Oath in the opening ceremony of those games.[2] In 1932, Savolainen and his teammate Einari Teräsvirta had the same score on horizontal bar, but the Finnish team voted to give the silver medal to Savolainen. In 1948, he again had the same score as teammates Veikko Huhtanen and Paavo Aaltonen on pommel horse, and the gold medal was shared between the three.[3]

Heikki Savolainen (gymnast)
Savolainen at the 1932 Olympics
Personal information
Country represented	Finland
Born	(1907-09-28)28 September 1907 Joensuu, Grand Duchy of Finland, Russian Empire
Died	29 November 1997(1997-11-29) (aged 90) Kajaani, Finland
Height	172 cm (5 ft 8 in)
Weight	62–66 kg (137–146 lb)
Discipline	Men's artistic gymnastics
Medal record Men's Artistic gymnastics Olympic Games 1948 London Pommel horse 1948 London Team all-around 1932 Los Angeles Horizontal bar 1928 Amsterdam Pommel horse 1932 Los Angeles Individual all-around 1932 Los Angeles Parallel bars 1932 Los Angeles Team all-around 1936 Berlin Team all-around 1952 Helsinki Team all-around World Championships 1950 Basel Team all-around

At the world championships, Savolainen won only one medal, a team silver in 1950. Domestically, he collected 20 titles between 1928 and 1950, including six individual all-around titles in 1928–37.[3]

Savolainen at a field hospital in his wartime duties as a physician with the rank of major

Savolainen graduated as a physical education teacher in 1931, and a Doctor of Medicine in 1939, after which he started working as a doctor in his home town Kajaani, Finland. During the Winter War he served with the rank of lieutenant colonel as the head doctor in a military hospital. In parallel Savolainen worked for the Finnish sports magazine Urheilulehti in 1932–37. From 1946 to 1959 he served as vice-president of the Finnish Gymnastics Federation, and in 1946–56 as president of gymnastics federation of Kajaani, the town where he lived most of his later life.[3]

Savolainen is the only Finnish gymnast inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame (2004).[4]