Finland

Finland first competed at the 1906 Intercalated Games in Athens and also appeared two years later at the 1908 London Olympics. Its first Olympic Winter Games appearance was in 1924 at Chamonix although it had two skaters entered in the figure skating events in 1920). Since those dates Finland’s participation has been continuous, never missing an Olympic Games nor an Olympic Winter Games. Finland’s greatest successes have come in the distance running events in the Summer Games. In those events, led by Hannes Kolehmainen, Paavo Nurmi, and Lasse Virén, Finland has been the preeminent nation, until the recent advent of the African distance runners. Prior to World War II, Finland was also the dominant nation in wrestling. In the Winter Games, Finland has excelled at Nordic skiing and, in the early Games, at speed skating. Finland hosted the Games of the XVth Olympiad in Helsinki in 1952, and Lahti and Tampere have both bid unsuccessfully to host the Olympic Winter Games. Through 2016, Finland has won 473 Olympic medals, 148 of them gold. Of these, 161 medals, and 42 gold, were won at the Olympic Winter Games. Nurmi has been their greatest Olympian, with 12 medals and nine golds.

In 1941 the Olympic Committee of Finland was awarded with the Olympic Cup.