Editing Ville Ritola (section)

== Childhood and emigration to the United States ==
Ritola's parents, Johannes Ritola (1851–1944) and Serafia Gevär (1863–1919), were farmers in western Finland near [[Seinäjoki]]. He was born in [[Peräseinäjoki]], Finland. He was the 14th child in his family and had altogether 19 siblings, five of whom died in infancy. Six of the children were from his father's first marriage, 14 from the second, including Ville.<ref name="autogenerated3">{{cite web | url=http://www.migrationinstitute.fi/vex/nayttelyt/Ville_Ritola_1996.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714170022/http://www.migrationinstitute.fi/vex/nayttelyt/Ville_Ritola_1996.pdf |archive-date=2014-07-14 |url-status=live | title=Siirtolaisurheilija Ville Ritola syntymästä 100 vuotta | publisher=Migration institute of Finland | date=15 June 2014 | language=Finnish}}</ref>

In 1913 he followed seven of his siblings and emigrated to the [[United States]] to work as a carpenter.<ref name=r1>{{cite Sports-Reference |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ri/ville-ritola-1.html |title=Ville Ritola |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417052307/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ri/ville-ritola-1.html |archive-date=2020-04-17}}</ref> There he started training in 1919 when he was already 23 years old. Later he referred many times to this late start of his sports career, and how it put him at a disadvantage compared to his rivals, especially the more famous of the Flying Finns, [[Paavo Nurmi]], who started systematic training in his teens. In 1919 he joined the Finnish-American Athletic Club and trained together with [[Hannes Kolehmainen]], who had moved to the United States after the [[1912 Summer Olympics]]. In spring 1919 he took part in his first competition, a New York street race, and finished 33rd among 700 competitors. It was only after this that he started to train systematically.<ref name=autogenerated3 />

Kolehmainen tried to convince the young Ritola to join the Finnish [[1920 Summer Olympics]] team, but Ritola stated that he was not ready yet. He had also just married Selma née Aaltonen. In 1921 he started to compete systematically, and in 1922 he won his first [[Amateur Athletic Union|AAU]] Championship gold medals. The same year he came second in the [[Boston Marathon]].<ref name=autogenerated3 />