Väinö Siikaniemi
Siikaniemi at the 1912 Olympics | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Väinö Villiam Siikaniemi | |||||||||||
| Born | 27 March 1887 Hollola, Päijät-Häme, Finland | |||||||||||
| Died | 24 August 1932 (aged 45) Helsinki, Finland | |||||||||||
| Height | 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in) | |||||||||||
| Weight | 83 kg (183 lb) | |||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||
| Sport | Athletics | |||||||||||
| Event | Javelin throw | |||||||||||
| Club | HKV, Helsinki | |||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||
| Personal best | 54.09 (1912) | |||||||||||
Medal record
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Väinö Villiam Siikaniemi (27 March 1887 – 24 August 1932) was a Finnish athlete who competed at the 1912 Summer Olympics. He finished fifth in the conventional javelin throw and won the silver medal in the two-handed javelin throw, a one-time Olympic event in which the total was counted as a sum of best throws with the right hand and with the left hand.
Siikaniemi retired from sports after the 1912 Games and became a math teacher, poet and translator. In 1923, he published his first poem and in 1929, a collection of poetry. In 1916, he married singer Oili Silventoinen (1888–1932) and later wrote lyrics for songs. He died of pneumonia, aged 45. It was said that he caught a cold during a marathon swim, which he took in an attempt to fight depression caused by the sudden death of his wife two weeks earlier.