Editing Paavo Nurmi (section)

==Early life==
[[File:Paavo Nurmi and his family in 1924.jpg|thumb|left|alt=refer to caption|Nurmi (second from right) with<br />his family in 1924]]
Nurmi was born in [[Turku]], [[Finland]], to carpenter Johan Fredrik Nurmi and his wife Matilda Wilhelmiina Laine.<ref name="SLU">{{cite web | first=Raimo | last=Railo | title=Legendaarinen Paavo Nurmi – sata vuotta ja ylikin suomalaista urheilua, osa 11 | trans-title=The legendary Paavo Nurmi – over one hundred years of Finnish sport, part 11 | work=Suomen Liikunta ja Urheilu (SLU) | url=http://www2.slu.fi/lehtiarkisto/verkkolehti.200011.uutinen.774 | access-date=24 November 2017 | language=fi | url-status=bot: unknown | archive-url=https://archive.today/20140704044615/http://www2.slu.fi/lehtiarkisto/verkkolehti.200011.uutinen.774 | archive-date=4 July 2014}}</ref> Nurmi's siblings, Siiri, Saara, Martti and Lahja, were born in 1898, 1902, 1905 and 1908, respectively.<ref name="Paavo Nurmi's home">{{cite web | title=Paavo Nurmi's home | work=The Sports Museum of Finland | url=https://www.urheilumuseo.fi/Kieliversiot/The-Sports-Museum-of-Finland/Information/Exhibitions/Paavo-Nurmis-home | access-date=24 November 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201031200/https://www.urheilumuseo.fi/Kieliversiot/The-Sports-Museum-of-Finland/Information/Exhibitions/Paavo-Nurmis-home | archive-date=1 December 2017 | url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1903, the Nurmi family moved from [[Raunistula]] into a 40-square-meter apartment in central Turku, where Paavo Nurmi would live until 1932.<ref name="Paavo Nurmi's home"/> The young Nurmi and his friends were inspired by the English long-distance runner [[Alfred Shrubb]].<ref name="SLU"/> They regularly ran or walked six kilometres (four miles) to swim in [[Ruissalo]], and back, sometimes twice a day.<ref name="Top Distance Runners p. 15">{{cite book | first=Seppo | last=Luhtala | year=2002 | title=Top Distance Runners of the Century | publisher=Meyer & Meyer Verlag | page=[https://archive.org/details/topdistancerunne0000unse/page/15 15] | isbn=978-1841260693 | url=https://archive.org/details/topdistancerunne0000unse/page/15 }}</ref> By the age of eleven, Nurmi ran the 1500 metres in 5:02.<ref name="SLU"/> Nurmi's father Johan died in 1910 and his sister Lahja a year later.<ref name="Paavo Nurmi's home"/> The family struggled financially, renting out their kitchen to another family and living in a single room.<ref name="SLU"/> Nurmi, a talented student, left school to work as an errand boy for a bakery.<ref name="Paavo Nurmi's home"/> Although he stopped running actively,<ref name="SLU"/> he got plenty of exercise pushing heavy carts up the steep slopes in Turku.{{sfn|Sears|2001|pp=212–213}} He later credited these climbs for strengthening his back and leg muscles.{{sfn|Sears|2001|pp=212–213}}

At 15, Nurmi rekindled his interest in athletics after being inspired by the performances of [[Hannes Kolehmainen]], who was said to "have run Finland onto the map of the world" at the [[1912 Summer Olympics]].<ref name="Urheilumuseo">{{cite web | title=Paavo Nurmi – A biography | work=The Sports Museum of Finland | url=https://www.urheilumuseo.fi/portals/47/PaavoNurmi2010/life.htm | access-date=24 November 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161020185514/http://www.urheilumuseo.fi/portals/47/paavonurmi2010/life.htm | archive-date=20 October 2016 | url-status=dead }}</ref> He bought his first pair of sneakers a few days later.<ref name="Top Distance Runners p. 15"/> Nurmi trained primarily by doing [[cross country running]] in the summers and [[cross country skiing]] in the winters.<ref name="SLU"/> In 1914, Nurmi joined the sports club [[Turun Urheiluliitto]] and won his first race on the 3000 metres.<ref name="Finnish Literature Society">{{cite web | first=Veli-Matti | last=Autio | title=Nurmi, Paavo (1897–1973) | work=[[Finnish Literature Society]] |url=http://www.kansallisbiografia.fi/kb/artikkeli/1786/ | date=12 September 1997 | access-date=16 August 2012 | language=fi}}</ref> Two years later, he revised his training program to include walking, [[Sprint (running)|sprints]] and [[calisthenics]].<ref name="SLU"/> He continued to provide for his family through his new job at the Ab. H. Ahlberg & Co workshop in Turku, where he worked until he started his military service at a machine gun company in the [[Pori Brigade]] in April 1919.<ref name="SLU"/> During the [[Finnish Civil War]] in 1918, Nurmi remained politically passive and concentrated on his work and his Olympic ambitions.<ref name="SLU"/> After the war, he decided not to join the newly founded [[Finnish Workers' Sports Federation]], but wrote articles for the federation's chief organ and criticized the discrimination against many of his fellow workers and athletes.<ref name="SLU"/>

[[File:Paavo Nurmi at the 1920 Olympic trials.jpg|thumb|alt=refer to caption|Nurmi at the 1920 Olympic trials]]
In the army, Nurmi quickly impressed in the athletic competitions: While others marched, Nurmi ran the whole distances with a rifle on his shoulder and a backpack full of sand.<ref name="Finnish Literature Society"/> Nurmi's stubbornness caused him difficulties with his non-commissioned officers, but he was favoured by the superior officers,<ref name="Finnish Literature Society"/> despite his refusal to take the [[Finnish Defence Forces military oath|military oath]] even at the threat of a court-martial.<ref>{{Cite web | first=Petri | last=Hänninen | title=Kaikki juoksijalegenda Paavo Nurmen värikkäästä elämästä – maailmanennätysten tehtailijasta kovaksi liikemieheksi | work=[[Yle]] | url=https://yle.fi/a/3-9666458 | date=13 June 2017 | access-date=9 December 2022}}</ref> As the unit commander [[Hugo Österman]] was a known sports aficionado, Nurmi and a few other athletes were given free time to practice.<ref name="SLU"/> Nurmi improvised new training methods in the army barracks; he ran behind trains, holding on to the rear bumper, to stretch his stride, and used heavy iron-clad army boots to strengthen his legs.<ref name="SLU"/> Nurmi soon began setting personal bests and got close for the Olympic selection.<ref name="Finnish Literature Society"/> In March 1920, he was promoted to corporal (''[[alikersantti]]'').<ref name="SLU"/> On 29 May 1920, he set his first national record in 3,000 m and went on to win the 1,500 m and the 5,000 m at the Olympic trials in July.<ref name="Urheilumuseo"/>{{sfn|Raevuori|1997|p=432}}