Like the 1984 Olympic javelin gold medalist Arto Härkönen, Tapio Korjus also had a relatively short athletics career, culminating with an Olympic victory. Korjus did cross-country skiing in his youth and took up javelin throwing when he was 17-years-old. He rose to prominence in 1987, when he surprisingly won his first Finnish title, although he did not make the Finnish World Championships team that year. The next year Korjus defended his Finnish title and then threw a new Finnish record of 86.50 just a month before the Olympics, which was the third best performance to that time with the new model javelin. At the Seoul Olympics, he was still not considered a favorite, that role going to Korjus’ teammate Seppo Räty and young Czech javelin prodigy Jan Železný. In the Olympic final, going into the final round, Železný led with 84.12, just head of Räty, but Korjus was the last thrower, and came through with 84.28 to win gold.
Korjus continued to compete after his Olympic victory for one more season, but retired from sports at the end of 1989, to concentrate on his studies as a physical education teacher. He later worked as an athletics coach, his most famous pupil being Mikaela Ingberg. Form 2007-11, Korjus was chairman of the Finnish National Sports Council and was re-elected as chairman of that council again in 2015. In 2010, Korjus also became chairman of the Finnish NOC professional sports committee.
Personal Best: JT – 86.50 (1988).
Finland