Pertti Karppinen
Pertti Karppinen (born
February 17,
1953 in
Vehmaa) is a
Finnish rower who is legendary for his three consecutive
Olympic Gold medals in Single Sculls in
1976,
1980, and
1984. He also won World Championships in 1979 and 1985. He once held the world record in
indoor rowing. Karppinen's style was to row a steady race and finish with a devastating sprint. In the early portions of the race, he would often trail his rivals by several boat length, only to catch them at the race finish. (Boat lengths are often used to describe the relationship between crews during a race. In a single scull race, a boat length is approximately 2 seconds).
Karppinen and great German sculler
Peter-Michael Kolbe had one of the greatest rivalries in the history of the sport. Although, Kolbe has more Olympic and World Championship medals than any other single sculler in history, he never won an Olympic Gold Medal. Twice, in 1976 and 1984, Kolbe had the lead the entire race, only to be passed in the last few meters of the race by Karppinen. Kolbe and Karppinen did not face each other in the
1980 Games because West Germany chose to boycott the games to protest the
Soviet Union's invasion of
Afghanistan.
Karppinen and Kolbe faced each other one last time at the
1988 Summer Olympics. Karppinen missed making the finals, but won the consolation race for seventh place. Kolbe again won a silver medal being beaten by prodigy
Thomas Lange. Karppinen would go on to compete in the
1992 Summer Olympics finishing in tenth place.
Karppinen and
Russia's
Vyacheslav Ivanov are the only men to win gold medals in the single scull at three straight Olympics.
Olympics
* Gold Medal, Single Scull, 1976 Olypmic Games
* Gold Medal, Single Scull, 1980 Olympic Games
* Gold Medal, Single Scull, 1984 Olympic Games
* 7th Place, Single Scull, 1988 Olympic Games
* 10th Place, Single Scull, 1992 Olympic Games
World Championships
* Silver Medal, Single Scull, 1977
* Gold Medal, Single Scull, 1979
* Silver Medal, Double Scull, 1981
* Gold Medal, Single Scull, 1985
* Silver Medal, Single Scull, 1986
* Bronze Medal, Single Scull, 1987
* 10th, Single Scull, 1990
* 8th, Double Scull, 1991
