Lasse Virén

Lasse Artturi Virén (born July 22, 1949) is a former Finnish athlete, winner of four gold medals at the 1972 Summer Olympics and 1976 Summer Olympics. He had an uncanny ability to peak at the Summer Olympic Games.

Born in Myrskylä, Finland, Lasse Virén recaptured the image of the "Flying Finns" promoted by runners like Hannes Kolehmainen, Paavo Nurmi, and Ville Ritola in the 1920s.

A police officer from Myrskylä, Virén debuted on the international scene in 1971. His performances at the 1971 European Championships in Helsinki were overshadowed by fellow Finn Juha Väätäinen, who captured gold medals in both the 5,000 and 10,000 meter events with Virén settling for modest 7th and 17th placings, respectively.

Buoyed by a brutal training regimen in Thomson's Falls, Kenya, and very impressive results, which included the smashing of the 2-mile world record and wins against Great Britain and Spain in a meet held in Helsinki in the summer of 1972, Lasse Virén entered the Munich games as a dark horse.

Olympic career

1972

At the 1972 Summer Olympics at Munich, Virén won both the 5,000 and the 10,000 meter events. At the 10,000 meter final held on September 3rd, Virén broke Ron Clarke's 7-year old world record despite falling in the twelfth lap after getting tangled with Frank Shorter. In less than a lap, Virén caught up with the leading pack after losing about 100 meters. With 600 meters to go, Virén dropped the hammer and started an unprecedented lap-and-a-half kick that only Belgium's Emiel Puttemans was able to respond to, but not outmatch. The Finn won the race in 27:38:40 (which is still the current record for the Olympiastadion). He became the fourth athlete to win both events in the same Olympics, joining fellow Finn Hannes Kolehmainen (1912), Czechoslovakia's Emil Zátopek (1952) and Russian Vladimir Kuts (1956). After them, Miruts Yifter (1980) and Kenenisa Bekele (2008), both from Ethiopia, accomplished the coveted "double". However, it must be stated that Kolehmainen, Virén (in both occasions) and Yifter were the only ones in this illustrious list that had to endure 10,000 meter heats to qualify for the 10,000 meter final, thus making winning the "double" more challenging.

1976

Virén ran at lower levels between the Olympics. At the 1976 Summer Olympics, Virén again won both events, coined later as the "double double", and became the only repeat winner of the 5,000 meter race in Olympic history. In the 5,000 meter final, he held off all-time greats Dick Quax, Rod Dixon, and Brendan Foster (all world-class at 1,500 m) with a devastating display of front-running over the last few laps. To those who watched him, the display was awesomely inspiring to the point that his last 1,500 meters in that final would have placed him 4th in the 1,500-meter final held at those Games. Remarkably, 18 hours after the 5,000-meter final, he competed in the men's marathon and finished fifth in 2:13:11.

1980

Lasse Virén ended his career after the 1980 Summer Olympics, where he placed fifth in the 10,000 meters. Virén failed to qualify for that final having clocked a disappointing 28:45 in his heat. Only after Ireland's John Treacy collapsed during his heat, due to heat stroke, was Virén given a second chance as a wild-card qualifier. He pushed that final's leading pack until the last 300 meters, before succumbing to the lethal kick of Miruts Yifter, the eventual gold medalist.

Training and rumors

Virén's wins were not without controversy. Firstly, following his 10,000 meter final win at the Montreal games, he took off his shoes and waved them to the crowd on his victory lap. The International Olympic Committee accused Virén of malicious intent, such as showing the logo on the shoes, but he claimed that he had a blister. Thus, the IOC suspended Virén from taking place in the 5,000-meter final after qualifying in his heat. An appeal followed and he was allowed to enter the race, two hours before gun time.

Additionally, Virén was alleged to have been involved in the practice of blood boosting which involves freezing blood, then having it returned to the body later to improve the oxygen content by increasing the red cell count. The practice was legal at the time but many still considered it cheating on moral grounds. Virén himself has never acknowledged any involvement in this practice. In fact, he was once offered $1 million by a magazine to reveal the truth of that matter. When he explained that the truth was that he never doped, the magazine rescinded the offer.

Virén, with his coach Rolf Haikkola, prepared with one focus in mind: coming to a peak for the Olympics. He accumulated thousands of kilometres of running in his local forests and in winter training destinations, running at gradually increasing intensities over intervening years to prepare a huge foundation from which to peak with his anaerobic work. All else was considered only as preparation: even European championships.

Critics say Virén did little of note between Olympics in competition; however, in 1974, between his Olympic double victories, he won a bronze medal in 5,000m at the European championships behind the British athlete Brendan Foster in a time of 13:24.57. Only two days later, at Helsinki, Virén won a 5,000 m race in 13:26.0, defeating Anders Gärderud (Sweden), and Olympic finalist Steve Prefontaine (USA). Only three days after, Virén again encountered Foster in a 2 mile (3.2 km) race at the Coca-Cola international meeting in London (Crystal Palace). Foster was again victorious, with Virén finishing fourth, only 0.06 seconds behind second place. Virén recorded his fastest 10,000 m with a time of 28:22.6 when he was the winner at a Finland vs. Soviet Union international match on 21 September. Furthermore, Virén managed to break the world record in the 2-mile and the 5,000 meters outside the Olympics (though both were done in close proximity to the 1972 Olympics, his 8:14.0 for two miles being run on August 14th, 1972 and his 13:16.4 for 5,000 meters on September 14th, 1972).

Years later, Virén competed in New Zealand in 1979 and ran the summer international series there while in the midst of his endurance base for the Moscow Olympics.

Since his career ended he has become a well-known figure in Finland, eventually winning a seat in the Finnish Parliament with the National Coalition Party 1999 - 2007.