Väinö Siikaniemi

Väinö Siikaniemi

Siikaniemi at the 1912 Olympics
Personal information
Full name	Väinö Villiam Siikaniemi
Born	27 March 1887 Hollola, Päijät-Häme, Finland
Died	24 August 1932 (aged 45) Helsinki, Finland
Height	1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	83 kg (183 lb)
Sport
Sport	Athletics
Event	Javelin throw
Club	HKV, Helsinki
Achievements and titles
Personal best	54.09 (1912)
Medal record Representing Finland Olympic Games 1912 Stockholm Two-handed javelin throw

Väinö Villiam Siikaniemi (27 March 1887 – 24 August 1932) was a Finnish athlete who competed at the 1912 Summer Olympics. He finished fifth in the conventional javelin throw and won the silver medal in the two-handed javelin throw, a one-time Olympic event in which the total was counted as a sum of best throws with the right hand and with the left hand.

Siikaniemi retired from sports after the 1912 Games and became a math teacher, poet and translator. In 1923 he published his first poem and 1929 a collection of poetry. In 1916 he married singer Oili Silventoinen (1888–1932) and later also wrote lyrics for songs. He died of pneumonia, aged 45. It was said that he caught a cold during a marathon swim, which he took in an attempt to fight depression caused by a sudden death of his wife two weeks earlier.