Urho Peltonen

Who was Urho Peltonen?

Urho Pellervo Peltonen was a Finnish athlete who competed mainly in the javelin throw.

He competed for Finland in the 1912 Summer Olympics held in Stockholm, Sweden in both the regular better hand javelin throw and javelin throw - both hands, winning a bronze medal in the latter event's only Olympic appearance behind fellow Finns Julius Saaristo and Väinö Siikaniemi and one place ahead of Swede Eric Lemming, who had won the one hand competition. Eight years later after World War I he again competed for Finland in the 1920 Summer Olympics held in Antwerp, Belgium, where he won the silver medal in the regular javelin as Finland swept the first four places with Jonni Myyrä winning, Paavo Johansson in third and Saaristo in fourth.

His personal best, set in Helsinki in 1916, was 64.35 meters. This was superior to Lemming's official world record at the time of 62.32, but was never ratified by IAAF as a new world record. However, it was ratified as a Finnish record.