Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Born | 16 May 1907 Lapua, Finland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 3 August 1944 (aged 37) Baryshevo, Leningrad, Russia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 167 cm (5 ft 6 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 62–68 kg (137–150 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Greco-Roman wrestling | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Club | Lapuan Virkiä | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Lauri Koskela (16 May 1907 – 3 August 1944) was a Greco-Roman wrestler from Finland. He competed at the 1932 and 1936 Olympics and won a bronze and a gold medal, respectively.[1] Koskela was the European champion in 1935, 1937 and 1938 and placed third in 1939. Domestically, he won seven titles in 1932–33, 1936 and 1940–43.[2]
Kidnapping and death
Koskela lived in Lapua, South Ostrobothnia, where he worked at the State Cartridge Factory. Koskela was a member of the local trade union branch and the Communist Party of Finland. In 1930, he was kidnapped by the fascist Lapua Movement. Koskela represented the left-wing club Ponnistus until the fall of 1930, when he joined the right-wing Virkiä in order to make it to the Olympics, as the Finnish Workers' Sports Federation did not participate the games.[2] Koskela was killed in action during the Continuation War in 1944.[3]
See also
References
- ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Lauri Koskela". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
- ^ a b "Lauri Koskela (1907–1944)". Helemi – Lapua Historical Database (in Finnish). 24 July 2013. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
- ^ "Olympians Who Were Killed or Missing in Action or Died as a Result of War". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
External links
- Lauri Koskela at the International Wrestling Database
- Lauri Koskela at Olympics.com
- Lauri Koskela at Olympedia
- Lauri Koskela at Olympiakomitea.fi (in Finnish)
- 1907 births
- 1930s missing person cases
- 1944 deaths
- European Wrestling Championships medalists
- Finnish communists
- Finnish male sport wrestlers
- Finnish military personnel killed in World War II
- Formerly missing people
- Kidnapped people
- Medalists at the 1932 Summer Olympics
- Medalists at the 1936 Summer Olympics
- Missing person cases in Finland
- Olympic bronze medalists for Finland
- Olympic gold medalists for Finland
- Olympic medalists in wrestling
- Olympic wrestlers for Finland
- People from Lapua
- Sportspeople from Vaasa Province (Grand Duchy of Finland)
- Wrestlers at the 1932 Summer Olympics
- Wrestlers at the 1936 Summer Olympics
- Sportspeople from South Ostrobothnia
- 20th-century Finnish sportsmen
- Finnish sport wrestler stubs