Elmar Rähn

Estonian sportsman Elmar Rähn was an all-round track and field athlete who won multiple national titles in the 1920s and 30s. The 1924 Koolinorsoo Olympiad was used as the selection process for the upcoming Olympics in Paris with Rähn winning seven events to earn his spot on the Estonian team. In Paris he competed in the decathlon where he finished 21st, which included setting no mark in the discus throw. Rähn had remarkable success following the Olympics with him winning 20 individual track and field titles and 13 relay titles from 1925 to 1936. He also set nine national records, with four in the 100 metres, two each in the 400 metres and 400 metres hurdles, and one in the 200 metres hurdles.

Rähn also played winter sports in Estonia, winning national titles in bandy (1926, 1934) and in ice hockey (1937). In 1930 the readers of the newspaper Eesti Spordilehe voted him as the best athlete in the country. After his sporting career he worked as a sports coach in Kalevi and Tartu. During World War II he was imprisoned for a brief spell due to his links with the Estonian Partisan Training Centre, before managing to escape. Rähn went to Germany in 1944 before emigrating to Australia in 1947, where he spent the rest of his life.

Personal Best: Dec – 5481 (1925).