[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”on” admin_label=”Page Header” module_class=”hero–section” _builder_version=”4.23.1″ _module_preset=”default” background_image=”\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Paavo-Nurmi-Helsinki-1952.jpg” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″][et_pb_fullwidth_header title=”PAAVO NURMI AS SEEN BY OTHERS” text_orientation=”center” header_fullscreen=”on” button_one_url=”#” button_two_url=”#” admin_label=”Hero Section” module_class=”fw–header” _builder_version=”4.23.1″ _module_preset=”default” background_enable_color=”off” custom_button_one=”on” custom_button_two=”on” module_alignment=”left” button_one_text_color_hover=”#6eba01″ button_two_text_color_hover=”#6eba01″ button_one_border_color_hover=”#ffffff” button_two_border_color_hover=”#ffffff” button_one_border_radius_hover=”0″ button_two_border_radius_hover=”0″ button_one_letter_spacing_hover=”2″ button_two_letter_spacing_hover=”2″ button_one_bg_color_hover=”#ffffff” button_two_bg_color_hover=”#ffffff” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_fullwidth_header][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”content–section no–padding” module_class=”content–section small–padding–top small–padding–bottom” _builder_version=”4.23″ _module_preset=”default” animation_direction=”bottom” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row column_structure=”2_3,1_3″ use_custom_gutter=”on” gutter_width=”1″ make_equal=”on” admin_label=”content–row fullwidth–row no–padding” module_class=”content–row fullwidth–row no–padding ” _builder_version=”4.23″ _module_preset=”default” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” width_tablet=”100%” width_phone=”100%” width_last_edited=”off|desktop” max_width_tablet=”100%” max_width_phone=”100%” max_width_last_edited=”off|desktop” make_fullwidth=”on” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ module_class=”special–content–column” _builder_version=”4.23″ _module_preset=”default” background_enable_image=”off” background_position=”top_left” custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_cta button_url=”#” admin_label=”Cordner Nelson, Track\u2019s Greatest Champions. Tafnews Press 1986.” module_class=”ela tertiary-bg” _builder_version=”4.23.1″ _module_preset=”default” use_background_color=”off” custom_button=”on” text_orientation=”left” module_alignment=”left” custom_margin=”|||” custom_padding=”|||” animation_direction=”bottom” text_orientation_tablet=”center” text_orientation_phone=”center” text_orientation_last_edited=”on|tablet” button_text_color_hover=”#6eba01″ button_border_color_hover=”#6eba01″ button_border_radius_hover=”0″ button_letter_spacing_hover=”2″ button_bg_color_hover=”rgba(0,0,0,0)” saved_tabs=”all” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}” button_one_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off”]<\/p>\n
His imprint on the track world was greater than any man\u2019s before or after. He, more than any man, raised track to the glory of a major sport in the eyes of international fans, and they honored him as one of the truly great athletes of all sports.<\/p>\n
Cordner Nelson, Track\u2019s Greatest Champions. Tafnews Press 1986.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_cta][et_pb_cta button_url=”#” admin_label=”Roberto L. Quercetani, Athletics : A History of Modern Track and Field Athletics (1860-1990). Vallardi & Associati, Milan 1990.” module_class=”ela ” _builder_version=”4.23.1″ _module_preset=”default” use_background_color=”off” custom_button=”on” text_orientation=”left” module_alignment=”left” custom_margin=”|||” custom_padding=”|||” animation_direction=”bottom” text_orientation_tablet=”center” text_orientation_phone=”center” text_orientation_last_edited=”on|tablet” button_text_color_hover=”#6eba01″ button_border_color_hover=”#6eba01″ button_border_radius_hover=”0″ button_letter_spacing_hover=”2″ button_bg_color_hover=”rgba(0,0,0,0)” saved_tabs=”all” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}” button_one_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off”]<\/p>\n In later years Nurmi supplied a critical analysis of his training methods. His daily schedule, more than adequate to the needs of his time, consisted for the most part in long and relatively slow runs, usually preceded by equally long walks. If compared with the often oppressive training methods of present-day runners, Nurmi\u2019s onetime ration naturally seems insufficient, notably as regards quality. In his own admission, speed work really entered his mind only in the later years of his career. Although he had the great merit of perceiving the importance of even pace-running, it may be argued that by this constant thought he obviously limited himself and probably left his potential untapped. Seen in their proper historical perspective, however, Nurmi\u2019s feats can only be described as fantastic.<\/p>\n Roberto L. Quercetani, Athletics : A History of Modern Track and Field Athletics (1860-1990). Vallardi & Associati, Milan 1990.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_cta][et_pb_cta button_url=”#” admin_label=”Gabriel Hanot, Le miroir des sports, 1924.” module_class=”ela tertiary-bg” _builder_version=”4.23.1″ _module_preset=”default” use_background_color=”off” custom_button=”on” text_orientation=”left” module_alignment=”left” custom_margin=”|||” custom_padding=”|||” animation_direction=”bottom” text_orientation_tablet=”center” text_orientation_phone=”center” text_orientation_last_edited=”on|tablet” button_text_color_hover=”#6eba01″ button_border_color_hover=”#6eba01″ button_border_radius_hover=”0″ button_letter_spacing_hover=”2″ button_bg_color_hover=”rgba(0,0,0,0)” saved_tabs=”all” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}” button_one_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off”]<\/p>\n Paavo Nurmi lives beyond humanity. He is ever more serious, reserved, concentrated, pessimistic, fanatic. There is such coldness in him and his self-control is so great that never for a moment does he show his feelings. (\u2026) What is Paavo Nurmi\u2019s mentality? Why does he seem to lack human qualities? Is he a slave of sport, of training, of records, in such degree that he sacrifices his body and soul with no thought, regard or free moment spared for the outside world? Is he not an amateur only by name, this athlete of 27 years whom the Finns call a student engineer and the Swedes a professional? The future will undoubtedly answer these questions. In any case, it is to be doubted that Nurmi can maintain his present situation for very long. We have now found the Finnish champion thinner, ruder, even more silent and withdrawn than before, more disincarnate. This extraordinary runner who, for one reason or another, maintains a formidable, intensive fanaticism for sport, will soon have to give us an answer to the living mystery that he constitutes.<\/p>\n Gabriel Hanot, Le miroir des sports, 1924.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_cta][et_pb_cta button_url=”#” admin_label=”Ron Clarke kirjassa Ron Clarke & Norman Harris, The Lonely Breed. Pelham Books 1967.” module_class=”ela ” _builder_version=”4.23.1″ _module_preset=”default” use_background_color=”off” custom_button=”on” text_orientation=”left” module_alignment=”left” custom_margin=”|||” custom_padding=”|||” animation_direction=”bottom” text_orientation_tablet=”center” text_orientation_phone=”center” text_orientation_last_edited=”on|tablet” button_text_color_hover=”#6eba01″ button_border_color_hover=”#6eba01″ button_border_radius_hover=”0″ button_letter_spacing_hover=”2″ button_bg_color_hover=”rgba(0,0,0,0)” saved_tabs=”all” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}” button_one_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off”]<\/p>\n It is quite hard in most instances to fix a label on an athlete \u2013 to say that a certain image is constantly true to the performer\u2019s character. But for Paavo Nurmi it is easy \u2013 both the legends and the known facts of this greatest of all athletes show a strong, silent, hard and confident individual. We have put a great deal of time into research upon the \u2018Phantom Finn\u2019 \u2013 to attempt to separate the fantasies from the fact. But the man was capable of so many incredible feats, and seemed not to discourage the many legends (certainly, even now, he makes no attempt to confirm or deny) that the \u2018image\u2019 becomes the man. His name, Paavo Nurmi, was known to the whole world. So were the names which newspapers gave him, \u2018Peerless Paavo\u2019, \u2018The Phantom Finn\u2019. The other runners in Finland, athletics experts, journalists, knew him not much better. Even to them, he was never quite real. He was enigmatic, sphinx-like, a god in a cloud. It was as if he was all the time playing a role in a drama. Yet, often the man seemed true to the legends which were woven around him. Perhaps, even, he encouraged them. No one knew\u2026 How was it that Paavo Nurmi stood apart, stern and silent, with uncompromising self-discipline, with white-hot ambition, bearing the closest resemblance, in athletics, to Napoleon Bonaparte?<\/p>\n Ron Clarke kirjassa Ron Clarke & Norman Harris, The Lonely Breed. Pelham Books 1967.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_cta][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ admin_label=”fullwidth–column–grid–padding” _builder_version=”4.23″ _module_preset=”default” background_enable_color=”off” background_position=”top_left” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_image src=”\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/pn_Nurmi-ja-Taisto-Maki-Amerikassa-1940.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”on” module_class=”ela–image” _builder_version=”4.23″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_image src=”\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/pn_Suomi-Ruotsi-maaottelu-1929.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”on” module_class=”ela–image” _builder_version=”4.23″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_image src=”\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/pn_Nurmi-ja-Maki-1940.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”on” module_class=”ela–image” _builder_version=”4.23″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_image src=”\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/pn_Terijoki-1928.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”on” module_class=”ela–image” _builder_version=”4.23″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_image src=”\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/pn_valmentaja-Nurmi.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”on” module_class=”ela–image” _builder_version=”4.23″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" His imprint on the track world was greater than any man\u2019s before or after. He, more than any man, raised track to the glory of a major sport in the eyes of international fans, and they honored him as one of the truly great athletes of all sports. Cordner Nelson, Track\u2019s Greatest Champions. Tafnews Press […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-860","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n