Mika Kristian Halvari (born February 13, 1970 in Kemi) is a Finnish former

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

ter. When competing, he represented Kemin Kunto and Helsingin Kisa-Veikot. Halvari won the 1995 IAAF World Indoor Championships in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

and came in second in the

World Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the ...

in Gothenburg, Sweden the same year. In 1998, he won a silver medal at the

1998 European Indoor Athletics Championships The 1998 European Athletics Indoor Championships were held from Friday, 27 February to Sunday, 1 March 1998 at the Palace of Luis Puig, Valencia, Spain.Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

. In addition to his success internationally, Halvari has won 4 gold medals, 3 silver and 1 bronze in the Finnish Championships. Towards the end of his career, Halvari was injured numerous times; for example, his

Achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcane ...

snapped twice. His personal best outdoors is 21.50 metres, which he put on July 9, 1995 in Hämeenkyrö,

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bo ...

. Indoors, he still holds the Nordic record for his put of 22.09 m, which he achieved on February 7, 2000 in

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclo ...

. Halvari was the 11th shotputter accepted into the

20 meter club The 20 meter club (''20 metrin kerho'' in Finnish) is an unregistered Finnish association for Finnish shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. T ...

Major achievements

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Halvari, Mika 1970 births Living people People from Kemi Finnish male shot putters Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Finland World Athletics Championships medalists World Athletics Indoor Championships winners Sportspeople from Lapland (Finland)