Editing Paavo Nurmi (section)

===1920–1924 Olympics===
[[File:Paavo Nurmi (Paris 1924).jpg|thumb|left|alt=refer to caption|Nurmi at the [[1924 Summer Olympics]]]]
Nurmi made his international debut in August at the [[1920 Summer Olympics]] in [[Antwerp]], Belgium.<ref name="Finnish Literature Society"/> He took his first medal by finishing second to Frenchman [[Joseph Guillemot]] in the [[Athletics at the 1920 Summer Olympics – Men's 5000 metres|5000 m]]. This would remain the only time that Nurmi lost to a non-Finnish runner in the Olympics.<ref name="Urheilumuseo"/> He went on to win gold medals in his other three events: the [[Athletics at the 1920 Summer Olympics – Men's 10,000 metres|10,000 m]], sprinting past Guillemot on the final curve and improving his personal best by over a minute,<ref name="Urheilumuseo 1920">{{cite web | title=Paavo Nurmi at the Olympic Games – Antwerp 1920 | work=The Sports Museum of Finland | url=https://www.urheilumuseo.fi/portals/47/PaavoNurmi2010/olympics.htm | access-date=25 November 2017 | archive-date=20 October 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161020185226/http://www.urheilumuseo.fi/portals/47/paavonurmi2010/olympics.htm | url-status=dead }}</ref> the [[Athletics at the 1920 Summer Olympics – Men's individual cross country|cross country race]], beating Sweden's [[Eric Backman]], and the [[Athletics at the 1920 Summer Olympics – Men's team cross country|cross country team event]] where he helped [[Heikki Liimatainen (athlete)|Heikki Liimatainen]] and [[Teodor Koskenniemi]] defeat the British and Swedish teams. Nurmi's success brought electric lighting and running water for his family in Turku.<ref name="Paavo Nurmi's home"/> Nurmi, however, was given a scholarship to study at the Teollisuuskoulu industrial school in [[Helsinki]].<ref name="Finnish Literature Society"/>

Buoyed by his defeat to Guillemot, Nurmi's races became a series of experiments which he analyzed meticulously.{{sfn|Lovesey|1968|p=98}} Previously known for his blistering pace on the first few laps, Nurmi started to carry a stopwatch and spread his efforts more uniformly over the distance.{{sfn|Lovesey|1968|p=99}} He aimed to perfect his technique and tactics to a point where the performances of his rivals would be rendered meaningless.{{sfn|Lovesey|1968|p=98}} Nurmi set his first world record on the [[10,000 metres world record progression|10,000 m]] in [[Stockholm]] in 1921.<ref name="Records"/> In 1922, he broke the world records for the 2000 m, the [[Men's 3000 metres world record progression|3000 m]] and the [[5000 metres world record progression|5000 m]].{{sfn|Lovesey|1968|p=99}} A year later, Nurmi added the records for the [[1500 metres world record progression|1500 m]] and the [[Mile run world record progression|mile]].{{sfn|Lovesey|1968|p=99}} His feat of holding the world records for the mile, the 5000 m and the 10,000 m at the same time has not been matched by any other athlete before or since.<ref name="Urheilumuseo"/> Nurmi also tested his speed in the 800 m, winning the 1923 Finnish Championships with a new national record.<ref name="Elite Games"/> After excelling in mathematics,{{sfn|Lovesey|1968|p=97}} Nurmi graduated as an engineer in 1923 and returned home to prepare for the upcoming Olympic Games.<ref name="Paavo Nurmi's home"/><ref name="Finnish Literature Society"/>

Nurmi's trip to the [[1924 Summer Olympics]] was endangered by a knee injury in the spring of 1924, but he recovered and resumed training twice a day.<ref name="Elite Games"/> On 19 June, Nurmi tried out the 1924 Olympic schedule at the [[Eläintarha Stadium]] in Helsinki by running the 1500 m and the 5000 m inside an hour, setting new world records for both distances.<ref name="Urheilumuseo 1924">{{cite web | title=Paavo Nurmi at the Olympic Games – Paris 1924 | work=The Sports Museum of Finland | url=https://www.urheilumuseo.fi/portals/47/PaavoNurmi2010/olympics2.htm | access-date=25 November 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201033437/https://www.urheilumuseo.fi/portals/47/PaavoNurmi2010/olympics2.htm | archive-date=1 December 2017 | url-status=dead }}</ref> In the [[Athletics at the 1924 Summer Olympics – Men's 1500 metres|1500 m final]] at the Olympics in [[Paris]], Nurmi ran the first 800 m almost three seconds faster.<ref name="Urheilumuseo 1924"/> His only challenger, [[Ray Watson (athlete)|Ray Watson]] of the United States, gave up before the last lap and Nurmi was able to slow down and coast to victory ahead of [[Willy Schärer]], [[H. B. Stallard]] and [[Douglas Lowe (athlete)|Douglas Lowe]],<ref name="Urheilumuseo 1924"/> still breaking the Olympic record by three seconds.<ref name="Running Times">{{cite journal | journal=Running Times | first=Roger | last=Robinson | issue=Apr 2008 | title=The Greatest Races | page=48}}</ref> The [[Athletics at the 1924 Summer Olympics – Men's 5000 metres|5000 m]] final started in less than two hours, and Nurmi faced a tough challenge from countryman [[Ville Ritola]], who had already won the 3000 m steeplechase and the 10,000 m.<ref name="Urheilumuseo 1924"/> Ritola and [[Edvin Wide]] figured that Nurmi must be tired and tried to burn him off by running at world-record pace.{{sfn|Sears|2001|p=214}}{{sfn|Raevuori|1997|p=174}} Realizing that he was now racing the two men and not the clock, Nurmi tossed his stopwatch onto the grass.{{sfn|Sears|2001|p=214}} The Finns later passed the Swede as his pace faded and continued their duel.<ref name="Urheilumuseo 1924"/> On the home straight, Ritola sprinted from the outside but Nurmi increased his pace to keep his rival a metre behind.<ref name="Urheilumuseo 1924"/>

In the [[Athletics at the 1924 Summer Olympics – Men's individual cross country|cross country]] events, the heat of {{convert|45|°C|°F|abbr=on}},<ref>{{cite web | title=Paavo Nurmi : makes the impossible possible | work=[[International Olympic Committee]] |url=http://www.olympic.org/content/news/media-resources/manual-news/1999-2009/2007/06/13/paavo-nurmi--makes-the-impossible-possible/ | date=13 June 2007 | access-date=2 May 2015}}</ref> caused all but 15 of the 38 competitors to abandon the race.<ref name="Urheilumuseo 1924"/> Eight finishers were taken away on stretchers.<ref name="Urheilumuseo 1924"/> One athlete began to run in tiny circles after reaching the stadium, until setting off into the stands and knocking himself unconscious.<ref name="The Guardian"/> Early leader Wide was among those who blacked out along the course, and was incorrectly reported to have died at the hospital.{{sfn|Raevuori|1997|pp=177–178}}{{sfn|Lovesey|1968|p=111}} Nurmi exhibited only slight signs of exhaustion after beating Ritola to the win by nearly a minute and a half.<ref name="Urheilumuseo 1924"/> As Finland looked to have lost the team medal, the disoriented Liimatainen staggered into the stadium, but was barely moving forward.{{sfn|Raevuori|1997|p=179}} An athlete ahead of him fainted 50 metres from the finish, and Liimatainen stopped and tried to find his way off the track, thinking he had reached the finish line.{{sfn|Raevuori|1997|p=179}} After having ignored shouts and kept the spectators in suspense for a while, he turned into the right direction, realised his situation and reached the finish in 12th place and secured team gold.<ref name="Urheilumuseo 1924"/>{{sfn|Raevuori|1997|p=179}} Those present at the stadium were shocked by what they had witnessed, and Olympic officials decided to ban cross country running from future Games.{{sfn|Lovesey|1968|p=112}}

In the [[Athletics at the 1924 Summer Olympics – Men's 3000 metres team race|3000 m team race]] on the next day, Nurmi and Ritola again finished first and second, and [[Elias Katz]] secured the gold medal for the Finnish team by finishing fifth.<ref name="Urheilumuseo 1924"/> Nurmi had won five gold medals in five events, but he left the Games embittered as the Finnish officials had allocated races between their star runners and prevented him from defending his title in the 10,000 m, the distance that was dearest to him.<ref name="Urheilumuseo 1924"/><ref name="CNN"/> After returning to Finland, Nurmi set a 10,000 m world record that would last for almost 13&nbsp;years.<ref name="CNN">{{cite web | title=Paavo Nurmi | work=[[CNN]] |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SPORT/05/01/paavonurmi/index.html | date=7 July 2008 | access-date=1 August 2012}}</ref>  As of July 2024, this is the second-longest-standing world record for the men's&nbsp;10,000&nbsp;metres.  Kenenia Bekele's world record set in August&nbsp;2005 in [[Brussels]] stood for over 15&nbsp;years.  Nurmi now held the 1500&nbsp;metres, the mile, the 3,000&nbsp;metres, the 5,000&nbsp;metres and the 10,000&nbsp;metres world records simultaneously.{{sfn|Raevuori|1997|p=417}}