Evening star., 1951-10-23

Next year. II all goes well, many a toast ' ~
here will be raised for accomplishments namely the stag
ing the oympcs the final reparaons payment to Rus
fierce purposefuness in Finland toward these two
goals must be applauded
TO AN EXTENT, is using the Olympics spring.
board development the Finland has been
unable expand rapidly their Scandinavian neghbors-
and Denmark But the Firms intend to make
of Helsink next
not for the Oympcs they admit, they probably
would not have been able to finance at this time such project
as ST million village" of the athletes
upward of 80 nations will be quarered and unlike most
Olympic villages, there nothing temporary about it.
Finands village is the last word in modern apartment
buildings the last has been and the athletes
visitors leave the real of the village will take over
The apartments sold permanently against being
rened-ong since have been oversubscribed.
nothing bashfu about the Firms when they talk
coming They frankly think they hold the
Opcs superior fashion to the British in l948 and indeed
they patternng after those of 1896 in Berlin
PreOmpc visitors from America who present at London
sharing the opinion that the Firms are cnches to outdo
the British
F1NLAND's INTENSE desire to hold the olympics
manifest in 1872 the Jim Thorpe mopped up in Stockholm
participating in international sports for the
first time had their first point winner in Werner Jaryinen
who competed the discus throw In 1908 Lon
heavyweight wrestler W. Weckman won the first
gold Oympcs for Finland and touched of
ona fever which staggers Americans until they think OF what
the fate of the Dodgers Nore Dame Ray Robinson means
in their country.
The Stockholm of 1912, however, really inspired
the dreams of holding Oympad in Hesink which meant
building stadium But it didn't true until 1928 when,
apart from state and community grants private funds were
raised from goods marked with the Olympic badge In 1885
the laid In 1899 they ready in 1910
they engrosed the first of two that would have
destroyed all Olympic hopes of less determined nation
A little named Hannes Koehmainen the hero
of 1912 the 5000 and 10000 meter we'll the
title 1920 the Firms had become factors in
Olympic competition yearold Nurmi had
moved onto the Koehmanen still the most celebrated
of the Finnish athletes the marathon farewell gesture
to sports.
OLYMPIAD AFTER OLYMPIAD, the Firms kept improving.
Nurm reached his peak in 1924 Then Roa Larva,
Loukoa Kokknn and Others Even in 1948 in London
exhausted after the produced gold medal
wnnerand from film star at that Tapo Rautavaara the
Clark Gable of the country, the javeln.
But Nurmi remains the alltime Finn sports hero. Now
proprietor of modest haberdashery in Helsnk shy
and publicly unavailable Paavo the Finnish athlete
other people of the world remember best
The other day the Finnish Olympic Committee tossed
clambake advertising that "old Finnish Olympic champions,
among them Nurmi would be present Nurm
peared but Koehmanen well along years present.
beaming in the which 40 years him the title
of the Happy Finn"
"Paavo" he said English with twinkle eye
che hiding From the American press bashool
1t said in American-Paavo is -poosh?"