Julius Saaristo

Julius Saaristo

Saaristo at the 1912 Olympics
Personal information
Birth name	Juho Julius Saaristo
Born	21 July 1891 Tampere, Finland
Died	12 October 1969 (aged 78) Tampere, Finland
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	81 kg (179 lb)
Sport
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	Javelin throw, shot put, pole vault
Club	Viipurin Urheilijat, Helsinki Tampereen Pyrintö, Tampere
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	JT – 62.85 m (1920) SP – 12.62 m (1911) PV – 3.35 m (1911)
Medal record Representing Finland Olympic Games 1912 Stockholm Two-handed javelin throw 1912 Stockholm Javelin throw

Juho Julius Saaristo (21 July 1891 – 12 October 1969) was a Finnish track and field athlete. He won two medals at the 1912 Olympics: a silver in conventional javelin throw and a gold in the two-handed javelin throw, a one-time Olympic event in which the total was a sum of best throws with the right hand and with the left hand. He finished fourth in the javelin throw at the 1920 Olympics. Saaristo held the Finnish national title in the javelin in 1910, 1911 and 1919.

Biography

Saaristo was born to Kaarlo Saaristo (Lindholm) and Wilhelmina Lindberg. He studied at the Tampere Industrial School in 1909–12, and from 1912 to 1915 studied machinery and electrical engineering at the Mitweida Technicum and at the Strelitz Technicum (now Technical School of Civil Engineering Neustrelitz) in Germany. In 1915 he enlisted to the German Army and was assigned to the 27th Jäger Battalion. He fought in World War I on the Eastern Front at the Misa River and the Gulf of Riga. On 25 February 1918 he returned to Finland and took part in the ongoing Finnish Civil War as a commanding officer. He then continued serving with the Finnish Army, fought in World War II, and was discharged from service after the war ended. He died of a throat cancer, though he was not a smoker himself.

In 1928 Saaristo married Olga Lydia Honkanen, they had two sons and an adopted daughter.