Day 5: M JT, M TJ, M 1500M, W 800m

The javelin competition was decided with the very first crack. To kick things off, Sweden’s Erik Lundqvist blasted a throw of 66.60 (218-6). The Hungarian caricaturist Béla Szepes came in second, and Norway’s Olav Sunde third.

The 20-year-old Lundqvist had only been throwing the javelin for a couple of years. The chap, known by the nickname Målaren, or "the Painter," had won the Swedish trials but had been careful not to compete too much early in the season. He focused on the competition in a manner somewhat similar to Seppo Räty: by luring perch with a rod and line along the canals of Amsterdam.

For the Finns, the competition was a disappointment. Paavo Liettu was fourth, world record holder Eino Penttilä, suffering from an ankle problem, was sixth, Albert Lamppu was ninth, and Vilho Rinne finished 15th. For the first time since 1908, the Finns were left without a javelin medal.

Penttilä's Technique Was a Mess

Penttilä, who wore a mismatched pair of shoes, saw his competition fizzle out due to an ankle injury sustained in June. Although the leg was technically healed, the recovery period had wrecked his technique. When Penttilä went for a furious 30-metre run-up in his last three throws, the rest of his technique shattered into pieces.

A reporter from the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter had his hands full trying to contain Penttilä's verbal torrent in the post-competition interview:

What was your impression of Lundqvist?
(No answer.)
Why didn’t you throw in your usual style?
I don’t know.

The first to be eliminated from the final of six was Stan Lay of New Zealand, who had impressed at the English Championships with a hurl of over 66 meters. In Amsterdam, his effort landed at 62.89 (206-4).

In Finland, the breaking of the javelin medal streak was taken hard. Not even Harri Larva's Olympic gold in the 1500, won on the same day, could soften the blow. Writing for Urheilulehti, columnist Urho Kekkonen (under the pen name Känä) reached almost parodical dimensions in his self-pity after the javelin defeat:

“Mankind walked gloomily, like a suicide marcher on their way to Imatra (the Imatra rapids), so did the inhabitants of Helsinki stomp along their rain-soaked streets.”

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Athletics in Japan began to rise in the late 1920's. Mikio Oda, who had burst out with a 15.41 jump in the spring, hopped his way to the first individual Olympic gold for the land of the rising sun and for all of Asia. Born in Hiroshima, Oda immediately produced a 15.21 (50-6¾) on the poor track in the triple jump qualification. It held until the end.

Some coaches called Oda “the springiest man in the world.” Finnish sports journalists, meanwhile, analyzed his technique. “He takes a monstrous first step, yet doesn’t break down on the following ones,” observed a reporter.

Oda didn't claim the shiniest medallion easily. The 23-year-old lanky American, Lee Casey from Los Angeles, unleashed a final attempt that landed just four centimeters short, with his takeoff a long way behind the board.

Vilho Tuulos came alive in the final. The woolly-socked grasshopper from Tampere hammered out results of 15.11, 14.97, and 15.09. Those secured him the bronze. At the same time, Tuulos joined the company of Paavo Nurmi as one of those who have won an Olympic medal in three consecutive five-ringed games. In later decades, Seppo Räty would join their ranks.

The triple jump was a bread-and-butter event for the Finns in the latter half of the 1920s, as in addition to Tuulos, Toimi Tulikoura placed fifth, Erkki Järvinen sixth, and Väinö Rainio eighth.

The defending Olympic champion, Nick Winter of Australia, arrived in Amsterdam out of form. In the qualification, he managed only 14.15 (46-5), which sent him packing. However, he picked up his form later in the season, hopping 15.02 in Ireland a couple of weeks after the Amsterdam games.

Mrs. Lina Radke from Baden-Baden, Germany, crushed her opponents and won the 800, which was on the Olympic programme for the first time, with a world record time of 2:16.8. Inga Gentzel's bronze medal was the first-ever major championship medal for Swedish women's athletics. In honor of the occasion, Gentzel has been given a memorial plaque on the Walk of Fame at the Stockholm Stadium. Later, Gentzel left the running tracks and became a piano teacher.

Some sections of the press, in their thirst for sales, exaggerated the distress of the ladies after the race. When the gentlemen of the Olympic committee read the articles, they decided to remove the women's two-lap race from the Olympic programme until 1960. A fine example of ignorant officials being led astray by the media.

The chauvinist medal of the day went to Yrjö Halme of Helsingin Sanomat, who was peering from the stadium's press box. In his opinion, women should be driven away from athletics competitions. Of course, in a fit of mercy, he would allow women to come to the stands to watch real, manly contests.

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