Arsi Ilari Harju (born 18 March 1974) is a Finnish former track and field athlete who competed in the

shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

. He won the gold medal at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. He set his personal best of 21.39 in the qualification. In the final, Harju secured the gold medal with his second round shot put of 21.29, beating silver medalist Adam Nelson by 8 cm and bronze medalist John Godina by 9 cm. In 2000, Harju was also named the Finnish Sports Personality of the Year. Harju was the 12th member to be inducted into the

20 metre club The 20 meter club (''20 metrin kerho'' in Finnish) is an unregistered Finnish association for Finnish shot putters who have put the shot more than in an official competition using a shot for men and a for women. The 20 meter club was founded ...

after achieving the distance of 20.16 on 2 March 1997, in

Tampere Tampere is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Pirkanmaa. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Tampere is approximately , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately . It is the most populous mu ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. Harju was a patron of

UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...

School walks in Finland. Harju retired from international competitions after the season 2005. He competed again from 2011 to 2012 marking 18.48 as his season best in both years.

Major achievements

References

*
Arsi Harju's webpage on the Perhon Kiri site

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Harju, Arsi 1974 births Living people People from Kurikka Finnish male shot putters Olympic gold medalists for Finland Olympic athletes for Finland Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships medalists UNICEF goodwill ambassadors Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes from South Ostrobothnia Finnish Athletics Championships winners