FRAnce v Finland

In early October 1932, the Finnish national athletics team travelled to Paris via a ship-and-train combination across Sweden and Germany, where the fourth match against France was held. This time, the journey took 3–4 days again, but the weather was not as unbearable as it had been during the trip to Hungary two years earlier.

A Generous Opponent

The previous match against France had taken place in Paris in 1929. In principle, the French were supposed to come to Finland in return. However, the French made an offer that could not be refused: they offered to cover the costs for the Finnish team to come to the City of Light.

Franks were valuable enough that several events were removed from the programme, so as not to require transporting an entire battalion to France. The 200 metres, as well as the 10,000 metres, 400-metre hurdles, triple jump, and hammer throw, all of which favoured Finland, were cut from the programme. There was only one relay race in the one-day match: the 1000 metres.

The weather did not favour the match. Rain poured from the sky, and the track was soft. About 15,000 spectators showed up in the stands at Colombes.

A Rarity: A Finnish Sprint Victory

Two years earlier, the Hungarians had thrashed Finland's sprinters. This time, the situation changed. Gymnastics teacher Palle Virtanen from Porvoo won the 100 metres, even though, as a strong runner, he crushed the starting blocks when the gun fired and was left a couple of metres behind the rest of the group. Olympic sprinter Börje Strandvall, who started at a wild pace, won the 400-metre race with a relatively good time of 49.2.

Jean Keller, who had dropped out at the Olympics, had crushed Olympic champion Harri Larva in the 800 metres during the 1929 match against France. This time, it was Finland’s young Kosti Kurkela, the recent Finnish champion in the 1500 metres, who followed the Frenchman's heels from behind.

Purje Defeats Martin

Eino Purje, who had disappointed at the Los Angeles Olympics, won the 1500 metres, perhaps somewhat surprisingly. Without waiting, the Finn charged forward from the start, winning with a time of 3:57, leaving the former world record holder for 800 metres, Séra Martin, five seconds behind. Purje’s task may have been eased by the fact that a few months earlier, the French Athletics Federation had banned world record holder Jules Ladoumègue from the track over brown envelopes.

Lauri Lehtinen and Volmari Iso-Hollo ran a demonstrative one-two victory in the 5000 metres. The French pair lost by over a minute. The Parisian crowd rarely saw two Olympic champions in long-distance races at the same time, and the reactions were as expected. Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat waxed lyrical:

“The audience eagerly showed their appreciation for the Finnish Olympic champions throughout the race, their effortless and graceful running clearly reflecting the joy of speed.”

Bengt Sjöstedt, who had equalled the world record the previous year, took victory in the sprint hurdles. Ten years earlier, Henri Bernard and Erik Wilén, who had also cleared hurdles in the match against France, fought for second place. The Frenchman won.

Paul’s Revenge – French Record of 7.50m in Long Jump

Ilmari Reinikka and Veikko Peräsalo from South Ostrobothnia broke into the international scene by clearing the bar at 1.90 metres (6-2 3/4). A one-two victory for Finland was recorded.

The best performance for the hosts came from Robert Paul in the long jump, who set a French record with a jump of 7.50 metres (24-7). It was a sweet achievement for Paul, who had been left out of the Los Angeles Olympics. Likely angered by this, he had already jumped twice 7.48 metres (24-6) before the match.

In the discus, the hosts fielded world-class athletes Paul Winter and Jules Noël, who had finished third and fourth at the Los Angeles Olympics and had thrown a little over and a little under 50 metres (164 feet) throughout the season. They had already been part of the 1929 match against Finland. The dominance continued in 1932, with Noël taking the victory in the internal French competition.

Third place went to Olavi Vaalamo, who reported on the match for Urheilija magazine and later fell in the Continuation War. His great-great-grandson, Topi Raitanen, is now known as the European champion in steeplechase.

Missing from the javelin was Olympic champion Matti Järvinen, who had gone on a competition tour around the world after the Los Angeles Games. However, Eero Ihanamäki, who had won the Finnish championship earlier that summer in the absence of the Olympic representatives, and Eino Penttilä, bronze medallist in Los Angeles, secured a one-two victory for Finland.

Finland won the match with a clear score of 78–62. In the marathon table of Finland–France matchups, the blue-and-whites moved into a 3–1 lead. In the marathon table of match points, Finland extended its lead to 249–210, excluding the 1923 contest, where France could not even field a full team. After the 1932 France match, Finland had secured 5 overall victories and 4 defeats in all their matches.

Sports journalist Sulo Kolkka of the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper summed up the 1932 athletics season at the end of his column after the match:

“The Olympic summer has been concluded in a grand and fitting manner.”