Lauri Tanner

Lauri Tanner was a member of the Finnish gymnastics team at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm that won bronze in the team all-around event in the free system. The team was defeated by Norway by one point but was trailed by Denmark by an even smaller margin.

At the same Olympics, he also competed in football and with the Finnish team defeated Italy (in overtime) and Russia in the first two rounds but were overmatched against England in the semi-final and the Netherlands in the bronze medal match. Tanner only played in the last game against the Netherlands replacing the injured Ragnar Wickström. He played a total of three international football matches, including Finland’s first ever international match. Tanner’s last cap came a full eight years after his Olympic appearance. In a friendly in 1920 against Estonia he scored his only two goals as an international.

At home, Tanner played as a forward for HJK in Helsinki. With this team he also won the Finnish championship in 1911, 1912, 1917, 1918 and 1919. As a gymnast he won the Finnish championship in team gymnastics in 1912.

Later, Tanner held various administrative positions in sports including member of the board of the Finnish Football Association (1913-28) and vice chairman (1919–27), vice chairman of the Finnish National Sports Association SVUL (1935–48), member of the board of the Finnish Olympic Committee, chairman of the Finnish Boys’ Sports Association (since 1930), member of the board of HJK, vice chairman of the Finnish Tennis Association, and director of the University of Helsinki’s gymnastics department (1945–50). In 1949, he was awarded the Golden Cross of Merit for Finnish Sports.

Lauri Tanner was a doctor in physiology with a PhD earned in 1912 and chairman of the Finnish Sports Physicians’ Association. He worked as a gymnastics teacher at high schools and later as a doctor in therapeutic institutions. With his wife Gertrud Oscaria Linnea (née Sundström) he had one child.