Matti Järvinen

For other uses, see Matti Järvinen (disambiguation).

Medal record
Men’s athletics
Competitor for  Finland
Olympic Games
Gold	Los Angeles 1932	Javelin throw
EAA European Championships
Gold	1934 Turin	Javelin throw
Gold	1938 Paris	Javelin throw

Matti Henrikki Järvinen (February 18, 1909, Tampere – July 22, 1985) was a Finnish javelin thrower. He won the Olympic gold medal at the 1932 Summer Olympics ahead of two other Finns, Matti Sippala and Eino Penttilä. The Finns considered other competitors' throwing styles naive, and didn't bother to take off their tracksuits during the event.

Besides his Olympic gold, Järvinen is remembered for his numerous world records. During the years from 1930 to 1936, he broke the IAAF javelin throw world record a record 10 times in a row. He also became the European champion in 1934 and defended his title successfully in 1938. In the 1936 Summer Olympics Järvinen suffered from injuries and finished fifth.

Järvinen, who became known as "Mr. Javelin", was the son of Verner Järvinen, Olympic champion and two-time Bronze medalist in discus throw. His brother Akilles Järvinen was a decathlon world record holder and two-time Olympic silver medalist. His other brother Kalle was a top-level athlete in shot put.

World records

Result (m)	Date	Venue
71.57	August 8, 1930	Vyborg
71.70	August 17, 1930	Tampere
71.88	August 31, 1930	Vaasa
72.93	September 14, 1930	Vyborg
74.02	June 27, 1932	Turku
74.28	May 25, 1933	Mikkeli
74.61	June 7, 1933	Vaasa
76.10	June 15, 1933	Helsinki
76.66	September 7, 1934	Turin
77.23	June 18, 1936	Helsinki

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Persondata
Name	Järvinen, Matti
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	February 18, 1909
Place of birth	Tampere
Date of death	1955
Place of death