Editing Paavo Nurmi (section)

===U.S. tour and 1928 Olympics===
[[File:Ray, Coolidge, Nurmi.jpg|thumb|right|alt=refer to caption|Nurmi, right, and [[Joie Ray (athlete)|Joie Ray]], left, with U.S. President [[Calvin Coolidge]] during Nurmi's 1925 U.S. tour]]
In early 1925, Nurmi embarked on a widely publicised tour of the United States. He competed in 55 events (45 indoors) during a five-month period, starting at a sold-out [[Madison Square Garden (1890)|Madison Square Garden]] on 6 January.<ref name="Urheilumuseo 1925">{{cite web | title=The American Tour of 1925 | work=The Sports Museum of Finland | url=https://www.urheilumuseo.fi/portals/47/PaavoNurmi2010/america.htm | access-date=25 November 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170111074208/http://www.urheilumuseo.fi/portals/47/paavonurmi2010/america.htm | archive-date=11 January 2017 | url-status=dead }}</ref> His debut was a copy of his feats in Helsinki and Paris.<ref name="Urheilumuseo 1925"/> Nurmi defeated [[Joie Ray (athlete)|Joie Ray]] and [[Lloyd Hahn]] to win the mile and Ritola to win the 5000 m, again setting new world records for both distances.<ref name="Urheilumuseo 1925"/> Nurmi broke ten more indoor world records in regular events and set several new best times for rarer distances.<ref name="Urheilumuseo 1925"/> He won 51 of the events, abandoned one race and lost two handicap races along with his final event; a half-mile race at the [[Yankee Stadium (1923)|Yankee Stadium]], where he finished second to American track star [[Alan Helffrich]].<ref name="Urheilumuseo 1925"/><ref name="Meriden">{{cite news | newspaper=[[Record-Journal|The Meriden Daily Journal]] | title=Alan Helffrich Hands Paavo Nurmi His First Defeat in Five Years | date=27 May 1925 | page=8 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=bbhIAAAAIBAJ&pg=1640,217515&dq=paavo-nurmi&hl=en | access-date=18 August 2012}}</ref> Helffrich's victory ended Nurmi's 121-race, four-year win streak in individual scratch races at distances from 800 m upwards.{{sfn|Raevuori|1997|pp=433–439}} Although he hated losing more than anything,<ref>{{cite web | first1=Veli-Matti | last1=Autio | first2=Roderich | last2=Fletcher | title=Nurmi, Paavo (1897–1973) | work=[[Finnish Literature Society]] |url=http://www.kansallisbiografia.fi/english/?id=1786 | access-date=18 August 2012}}</ref> Nurmi was the first to congratulate Helffrich.<ref name="Meriden"/> The tour made Nurmi extremely popular in the United States, and the Finn agreed to meet President [[Calvin Coolidge]] at the White House.<ref>{{cite news | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | title=Coolidge Talks With Nurmi As They Pose for Pictures | date=22 February 1925 | page=1 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1925/02/22/archives/coolidge-talks-with-nurmi-as-they-pose-for-pictures.html | access-date=18 August 2012}}</ref> Nurmi left America fearing that he had competed too often and burned himself out.<ref>{{cite news | newspaper=[[Sun Journal (Lewiston)|The Lewiston Daily Sun]] | title=Nurmi says he's never coming back to America | date=21 May 1925 | page=1 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=zLEgAAAAIBAJ&pg=5024,3836201&dq=paavo-nurmi&hl=en | access-date=18 August 2012}}</ref>

Nurmi struggled to maintain motivation for running, heightened by his [[rheumatism]] and [[Achilles tendon]] problems.<ref name="Finnish Literature Society"/> He quit his job as a machinery [[Drafter|draughtsman]] in 1926 and began studying business intensively.<ref name="Finnish Literature Society"/> As Nurmi started a new career as a share dealer, his financial advisors included [[Risto Ryti]], director of the [[Bank of Finland]].<ref name="Finnish Literature Society"/> In 1926, Nurmi broke Wide's world record for the 3000 m in [[Berlin]] and then improved the record in Stockholm,{{sfn|Raevuori|1997|p=417}} despite [[Nils Eklöf]] repeatedly trying to slow his pace down in an effort to aid Wide.{{sfn|Raevuori|1997|p=258}} Nurmi was furious at the Swedes and vowed never to race Eklöf again.{{sfn|Raevuori|1997|p=259}} In October 1926, he lost a 1500 m race along with his world record to Germany's [[Otto Peltzer]].<ref name="The Guardian 2008"/> This marked the first time in over five years and 133 races that Nurmi had been defeated at a distance over 1000 m.{{sfn|Raevuori|1997|pp=433–439}} In 1927, Finnish officials barred him from international competition for refusing to run against Eklöf at the [[Finland-Sweden athletics international|Finland-Sweden international]], cancelling the Peltzer rematch scheduled for [[Vienna]].{{sfn|Raevuori|1997|pp=259–260}} Nurmi ended his season and threatened, until late November, to withdraw from the [[1928 Summer Olympics]].{{sfn|Raevuori|1997|pp=260–262}} At the 1928 Olympic trials, Nurmi was left third in the 1500 m by eventual gold and bronze medalists [[Harri Larva]] and [[Eino Purje]], and he decided to concentrate on the longer distances.{{sfn|Raevuori|1997|p=269}} He added steeplechase to his program, although he had only tried the event twice before,{{sfn|Raevuori|1997|p=269}} the latest being a two-mile steeplechase victory at the 1922 British Championships.{{sfn|Raevuori|1997|p=428}}

At the 1928 Olympics in [[Amsterdam]], Nurmi competed in three events. He won the [[Athletics at the 1928 Summer Olympics – Men's 10,000 metres|10,000 m]] by staying right behind Ritola until sprinting past him on the home straight.<ref name="Urheilumuseo 1928">{{cite web | title=Paavo Nurmi at the Olympic Games – Amsterdam 1928 | work=The Sports Museum of Finland | url=https://www.urheilumuseo.fi/portals/47/PaavoNurmi2010/olympics3.htm | access-date=25 November 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201040525/https://www.urheilumuseo.fi/portals/47/PaavoNurmi2010/olympics3.htm | archive-date=1 December 2017 | url-status=dead }}</ref> Before the [[Athletics at the 1928 Summer Olympics – Men's 5000 metres|5000 m]] final, Nurmi injured himself in his qualifying heat for the [[Athletics at the 1928 Summer Olympics – Men's 3000 metres steeplechase|3000 m steeplechase]].<ref name="Urheilumuseo 1928"/> He fell on his back at the water jump, spraining his hip and foot.<ref name="Urheilumuseo 1928"/> [[Lucien Duquesne]] stopped to help him up, and Nurmi thanked the Frenchman by pacing him past the field and offered him the heat win, which Duquesne gracefully refused.<ref name="Urheilumuseo 1928"/> In the 5000 m, Nurmi tried to repeat his move on Ritola but had to watch his teammate pull away instead.<ref name="Urheilumuseo 1928"/> Nurmi, looking more exhausted than ever before, only barely managed to keep Wide behind and take silver.<ref name="Urheilumuseo 1928"/> Nurmi had little time to rest or nurse his injuries as the 3000 m steeplechase started the next day.<ref name="Urheilumuseo 1928"/> Struggling with the hurdles, Nurmi let Finland's steeplechase specialist [[Toivo Loukola]] escape into the distance.<ref name="Urheilumuseo 1928"/> On the final lap, he sprinted clear of the others and finished nine seconds behind the world-record setting Loukola; Nurmi's time also bettered the previous record.<ref name="Urheilumuseo 1928"/> Although Ritola did not finish, [[Ove Andersen (athlete)|Ove Andersen]] completed a Finnish [[List of medal sweeps in Olympic athletics|sweep of the medals]].<ref name="Urheilumuseo 1928"/>