Armas Taipale

Armas Taipale

Armas Taipale at the 1912 Olympics
Personal information
Born	27 July 1890 Helsinki, Finland
Died	8 November 1976 (aged 86) Turku, Finland
Height	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Weight	90–95 kg (198–209 lb)
Sport
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	Discus throw, shot put
Club	HKV, Helsinki
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	DT – 48.90 m (1914) SP – 13.855 m (1919);
Medal record Representing Finland Olympic Games 1912 Stockholm Discus throw 1912 Stockholm Two-handed discus throw 1920 Antwerp Discus throw

Armas Rudolf Taipale (27 July 1890 – 9 November 1976) was a Finnish athlete. He competed at the 1912 Summer Olympics and won gold medals in two discus throw events, conventional and two-handed, where the total was counted as a sum of best throws with a left hand and with a right hand. After World War I he won a silver medal in the conventional discus throw at the 1920 Olympics and finished tenth in the shot put. At the 1924 Olympics he competed only in the discus throw and finished in 12th place. Taipale set two unofficial world records in the discus.

Domestically Taipale started competing in 1908 and won three Finnish titles in the discus throw and two in the shot put. In 1914 he was British champion both in the shot put and discus throw. Besides athletics he competed in Greco-Roman wrestling at the Nordic Games and played association football. In 1923 he immigrated to the United States, but returned to Finland in 1974. He was a businessman and lawyer by occupation.