Juha Tiainen throwing for Olympic gold in 1984 (© Getty Images)
Helsinki, FinlandJuha Tiainen the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic gold medallist in the men’s Hammer Throw, died on Sunday 27 April at his home in Lappeenranta, Finland.
Tiainen is the only Finnish or Scandinavian Hammer thrower, to have won a gold medal in the Olympic Games or the IAAF World Championships, and was one of those first men in the world to throw the Hammer over 80 metres.
During his long international career he participated in three Olympic Games, two IAAF World Championships, three European Championships, and a total of fourteen annual matches between Finland and Sweden.
Juha Tiainen was born 5 December in 1955 in Uukuniemi near the Finnish-Russian border. He made his living as a policeman. Tiainen represented the sportsclub of his home village Uukuniemen Urheilijat, and one of the biggest finnish sportsclubs Lappeenrannan Urheilu-Miehet ("LUM").
Tiainen threw a Finnish and Scandinavian Hammer record of 81.52 metres on 11 June 1984. It was not until last summer, that Finland’s former World Junior champion and World Junior record holder Olli-Pekka Karjalainen broke Tiainen's 18-year-old national record with a throw of 81.70 in 16 June 2002.
