Johannes Villemson

Estonian sportsman Johannes Villemson excelled in both track and field athletics and speed skating, and won multiple titles in both. Villemson also had a lengthy career as a referee and sports administrator. In his teens he participated in gymnastics, wrestling, and weightlifting, and played football for the local team. He graduated from the Tallinn Boys’ Trade School as an accountant and went on to learn foreign languages.

Villemson first competed in athletics in 1910 and became a three-time champion of Russia in the 1,500 metres from 1914 to 1916. From 1914 to 1917 he broke 12 Russian records across four different events (800 metres, 1,000 metres, 1,500 metres, and the decathlon). In 1920 he was selected to represent Estonia at the Antwerpen Olympics, running in both the 800 and 1,500 metres. From 1917 to 1930 Villemson won 22 Estonian titles in distances from 100 to 1,500 metres, and was a ten-time champion in relay races. From 1911 to 1927 he also set multiple Estonian records in different running events, the pole vault, and the decathlon. Villemson was scheduled to run in the 800 and 1,500 metres at the 1924 Paris Olympics but did not start in either race.

Villemson took up the sport of speed skating in 1909 and became an Estonian champion four times in multi-events between 1911 and 1915. Individually, he won 11 titles and set 11 national records. In 1916 and 1917 he also won the Estonian championship in bandy. Villemson refereed multiple sports during the 1920s and 1930s, including wrestling at the Olympics in Paris (1924), Amsterdam (1928), and Berlin (1936).

From 1920 to 1940 Villemson worked in various roles including as the administrator of ESL and EOK, and the general secretary of the Sports Bureau. By 1941 he had become the head of the planning and finance sector of the Physical Culture and Sports Committee. During the Soviet occupation of Estonia in World War II he fled to Germany in 1944 before moving to the United States five years later. Villemson worked in an electrical appliance factory in Chicago and became the chair of the Estonian Society.

Personal Bests: 800 – 1:59.3 (1922); 1500 – 4:11.0 (1917).