Along with Emil Väre, Oskari Friman, Heikki Kähkönen and Taavi Tamminen, Aleksanteri Toivola was one of five wrestlers from the wrestling club Viipurin Voimailijat that dominated the lighter classes of Greco-Roman wrestling scene at the start of the 1920s. Wrestling in Greco-Roman featherweight, however, Toivola was under the shadow of Kalle Anttila most of his career. Toivola won silver behind Anttila at the 1921 Worlds and 1924 Olympics. He never won a Finnish title, but won silver medals at the Finnish championships in 1922-23. His son Lassi became one of the top wrestling referees, who officiated at the 1972, 1980, 1984, 1988 and 1992 Olympics, at 32 World Championships tournaments, at 35 European Championships tournaments and was elected to the FILA International Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2005. Toivola’s grandnephew Jukka Toivola competed in the marathon at the 1976 Olympics.
Finland