European Athletics is saddened to hear that Finnish javelin thrower Jorma Kinnunen passed away on Thursday (25) at the age of 77 after a long illness.
Kinnunen won a silver medal in the javelin at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. The following year Kinnunen set a world record of 92.70m with the old specification javelin in Tampere, a mark which remained on the record books until 1972 when Janis Lusis regained the mark.
Kinnunen also reached the Olympic finals in 1964 and 1972 and reached three European Championships finals between 1966 and 1971. After his competitive career, Kinnunen was one of the creators of the annual Javelin Carnival which takes place in his hometown of Pihtipudas.
Kinnunen’s two sons both followed in his footsteps. Kimmo won the world title in 1991 and his younger son Jarkko, who passed away in February, won a silver medal in the discipline at the 1989 European U20 Championships. Jorma's grandson Jami, the son of Kimmo, also competed at the 2013 European U20 Championships and 2017 European U23 Championships.