Voitto Kolho

Voitto Kolho and his brothers Lauri and Yrjö, both also shooting Olympians, were all born under the name Saxberg and later changed it to Kolho. Although Voitto Kolho competed in 13 events at four Olympics (1908-24), the bronze in team military rifle in 1920 was his only medal.

In 1905 Kolho went to Vaasa for his studies and eventually graduated from the Helsinki University of Technology in 1912 with a degree in mechanical engineering. While still a student, he sustained a ruptured appendix and contracted peritonitis, but still survived in the pre-antibiotic era. During the following years he worked as engineer at the Hietalahti shipyard, as technical director at the Jämsänkosken pulp mill, and as a senior engineer for Kajaani Lumber. In 1926 he joined Enso, a major company in the lumber and paper industry, where he became technical director of the sulphite cellulose process and later was promoted to senior engineer. In 1935 he was appointed to the company’s board of management of the Enso-Gutzeit group. He retired in 1950, one year after receiving an honorary doctorate from the Helsinki University of Technology.

Kolho became a famous expert on classic violins, examining and identifying them. He himself had a violin collection, including a Stradivarius and a Guarneri. In 1946, he was one of the founding members of the Violin Makers’ Association and later became the organization’s chairman. The violin made by him in 1923 is still owned by his family.