Paavo Nurmi Print, Vintage Atletica Poster, Finlandia Retro Wall Art, Sports Gift, Black and White Sports Print

PAAVO NURMI — a LostTeams editorial print telling the existing story of Paavo Nurmi, 1920-1928.

Paavo Nurmi carried a stopwatch in his hand while he raced. He would check it on the back straight, run to the schedule he had set before the gun, and throw it onto the infield with a lap to go.

The idea underneath is simple and was close to heretical in the 1920s: the fastest way to cover a distance is to cover it evenly. Everyone else raced the men beside them, surging and responding. Nurmi raced the clock and let the men beside him destroy themselves trying to follow.

It produced nine Olympic gold medals and three silvers across three Games, and world records at every distance from 1500 metres to 20 kilometres.

The day that explains him is 10 July 1924 in Paris. He won the 1500 metres final, then went back out and won the 5000 metres final. The gap between them was about an hour. The organisers had scheduled it that way partly to make it impossible.

Two days later he won the 10000 metres cross country in temperatures around forty degrees, in a race that hospitalised much of the field and from which only fifteen of thirty-eight finishers came back. He crossed the line looking, by the accounts of those present, unbothered.

The records give the scale. Between 1921 and 1931 he held the world record for the mile, the 1500 metres, the 3000, the 5000, the 10000 and the hour run, some of them simultaneously. At one point he owned every official world record from 1500 metres to 20 kilometres.

He was not warm company. He rarely spoke to the press, trained alone, and was described by teammates as remote. Finland, independent only since 1917, built a national identity partly on him anyway.

In 1932 the IAAF declared him a professional over expenses paid for German appearances, and he was barred from the Los Angeles Olympic marathon he had trained for. He was thirty-five. The decision was disputed then and has been disputed ever since.

Twenty years later, in 1952, the Helsinki Olympics opened and the identity of the final torchbearer had been kept secret. Nurmi ran into the stadium with the flame. The crowd, including a good part of the world's athletes, lost its composure entirely.

Hang it. One day someone will ask you what it is, and you will know where to begin.