fullname caption death_date club death_place birth_place weight image_size height sport birth_date image article_title name nicknames
joonas myyrä jonni myyrä at the 1920 olympics 22 january 1955 partakosken into savitaipaleen urheilijat lahden ahkera san francisco , united states savitaipale , viipuri province , grand duchy of finland 80 kg lb on 280px 1.86 m ftin 0 on javelin throw , discus throw , pentathlon 13 july 1892 jonni myyrä 1920 crop.jpg jonni myyrä
 jonni myyrä `` jonni ''
jonni myyrä

joonas `` jonni '' myyrä -lrb- 13 july 1892 -- 22 january 1955 -rrb- was a finnish athlete who competed at the 1912 , 1920 and 1924 olympics .
in 1912 , he finished eighth in the javelin throw .
at the 1920 olympics his left arm was fractured in a warm-up accident -- the spear thrown by james lincoln struck myyrä while he was resting on the grass .
nevertheless myyrä managed to win the javelin event with an olympic record of 65.78 meters .
he also finished 12th in the discus throw , but could not complete his pentathlon events .
myyrä successfully defended his javelin title at the 1924 summer olympics , and then fled to the united states due to his financial problems in finland .
he never returned to his home country and died in san francisco in 1955 .
he threw one officially ratified world record in the javelin , 66.10 meters in stockholm on 24 august 1919 and several other performances exceeding the official record at the time that were for various reasons not ratified , including his eventual personal best of 68.55 m achieved in richmond , virginia , on 27 september 1925 .
