Seppo Juhani Hovinen (born February 4, 1951, in

Virrat Virrat (; ) is a town and municipality of Finland. Part of the Pirkanmaa region, it is located north of Tampere and west of Jyväskylä. Virrat is from Helsinki. The town has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The ...

) is a retired Finnish

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown as far as possible. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's de ...

er. A leading favorite in the 1976 Montréal Olympics, he failed to deliver, finishing 7th.

Rise to elite

Hovinen exploded to international attention in the mid-70s and was ranked #1 in the world by

Track & Field News ''Track & Field News'' is an American monthly sports magazine founded in 1948 by brothers Bert Nelson and Cordner Nelson, focused on the world of track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includ ...

in 1975. Resultwise though, his best year by far was 1976, which saw him winning his first Finnish championship and throwing 90 meters or more in seemingly every competition, culminating in his personal best of 93.54 thrown in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

on June 23, 1976. This was very close to the

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

, held at the time at 94.08 by Klaus Wolfermann. Hovinen entered the

1976 Summer Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...

as a leading favorite, together with

Miklós Németh Miklós Németh (, born 24 January 1948) is a retired Hungarian economist and politician who served as Prime Minister of Hungary from 24 November 1988 to 23 May 1990. He was one of the leaders of the Socialist Workers' Party, Hungary's Communi ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

1976 Summer Olympics

Hovinen cleared the qualification easily, throwing 89.76 with his first throw. Though Finland has produced no less than seven Olympic gold medalists in the javelin (including

Julius Saaristo Juho Julius Saaristo (21 July 1891 – 12 October 1969) was a Finnish track and field athlete. He won two medals at the 1912 Olympics: a silver in conventional javelin throw and gold in the two-handed javelin throw, a one-time Olympic event in ...

's gold in the 1912 two hands competition), this still remains the longest throw ever by a Finn at an Olympics. It was also the longest of the qualification, narrowly ahead of Németh. Next day in the final however, Németh opened with a new world record of 94.58. Hovinen found himself completely unable to respond, and finished a very disappointing seventh with a lackluster mark of 84.26.

1977 doping positive and further career

After winning another Finnish championship in 1977, Hovinen tested positive for

anabolic steroid Anabolic steroids, also known as anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS), are a class of drugs that are structurally related to testosterone, the main male sex hormone, and produce effects by binding to the androgen receptor (AR). Anabolism, Anaboli ...

s (together with fellow Finns

Markku Tuokko Markku Tuokko (24 June 1951 – 20 February 2015) was a Finnish discus thrower, shot putter and teacher. At the 1978 European Championships, Tuokko won the silver medal in discus with a result of 64.90 metres. At the 1980 Summer Olympics in Mosc ...

and Asko Pesonen) at the 1977

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

in Helsinki. He was initially given a lifetime ban by

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

, but this was reduced on an appeal by the Finnish Athletics Association (SUL) and Hovinen became eligible to compete again on August 13, 1978, just in time to take part in the

1978 European Athletics Championships The 12th European Athletics Championships were held from 29 August to 3 September 1978 in the Stadion Evžena Rošického in Prague, the capital city of Czechoslovakia (present-day Czech Republic). Contemporaneous reports on the event were given ...

. He cleared the qualification with his first throw but failed again in the final, taking the middle spot as team Finland swept the last three places. Hovinen never returned to his 1976 shape, though he won one more Finnish championship in 1981. He is married to Ulla Lundholm, the Finnish record holder in women's

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field sport in which the participant athlete throws an oblate spheroid weight (object), weight called a discus in an attempt to mark a further distance than other competitors. It is a ...

; they are the parents of

Niko Hovinen Niko Hovinen (born 16 March 1988) is a Finnish people, Finnish professional ice hockey goaltender. He is currently playing for HIFK of The SM-liiga, SM-Liiga in Finland. Playing career Jokerit Niko Hovinen's SM-liiga career started during the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hovinen, Seppo 1951 births Living people People from Virrat Finnish male javelin throwers Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Finland Doping cases in athletics Finnish sportspeople in doping cases Athletes from Pirkanmaa Finnish Athletics Championships winners 20th-century Finnish sportsmen

Rise to elite

1976 Summer Olympics

1977 doping positive and further career

See also

References