Väinö Edward Tiiri (31 January 1886 – 30 July 1966) was a Finnish gymnast who won two Olympic medals.

Sport

Olympics

He was in the Finnish team leadership in the

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20–January 30, 30 – Kuomintang in Ch ...

and 1928 games. He was a judge at the

gymnastics at the 1928 Summer Olympics At the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, eight events in gymnastics were contested. For the first time at the Olympic Games, women competed in gymnastics. The rope climbing and sidehorse vault events were dropped from the program. Men's even ...

Other

He won the Finnish national championship in team gymnastics as a member of Ylioppilasvoimistelijat in 1909. He was the chairman of the boys' chapter of the Finnish Gymnastics and Sports Federation in 1924–1926. He was a founding member of the fencing club Helsingin Miekkailijat. He was the leader of the '' Suomen Urheilulehti'' editorial staff in 1909–1917. He edited sports-related articles in the encyclopedia '' Pieni tietosanakirja''. He held positions of trust in several national-level sports federations.

Career

He completed his matriculation exam in Turku Finnish Real Lycaeum in 1907 and graduated as a gymnastics teacher in 1911. He worked as a gymnastics teacher up to 1952. He completed Artillery Officer School in 1918 and eventually reached the rank of major in 1928. He was the physical education officer of the Finnish Defence Forces for over ten years. He served as a battalion commander in the World War II. He was an editor in ''

Uusi Suomi ''Uusi Suomi'' () was a Finnish daily newspaper that was published from 1919 to 1991. The headquarters was in Helsinki, Finland. History and profile ''Uusi Suomi'' was established in 1919 as a continuation of two earlier newspapers, ''Suometar' ...

'' and '' Suomen Sotilas''.

Politics

He was one of the members of the central committee responsible of the creation of the

Jäger Movement The Jäger Movement () consisted of volunteers from Finland who trained in Germany as Jägers during World War I. Supported by Germany to enable the creation of a Finnish sovereign state, the movement was one of many means by which Germany int ...

. He was nominated an honorary jäger in 1961.

Family

Tiiri's parents were Kalle and Maria Tiiri. He married Helmi Koski in 1921. His only child was named Juhana. He was buried in Helsinki at

Hietaniemi Cemetery The Hietaniemi cemetery (, ) is located mainly in the Lapinlahti quarter and partly in the Etu-Töölö district of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. It is the location for Finnish state funeral services and is owned by the Evangelical Luthe ...

Accolades

He received the following honorary awards: * Cross of Liberty, 3rd Class * Cross of Liberty, 4th Class * Knight (Chevalier) of the White Rose of Finland * The Jaeger Activist Medal * memorial medals of three wars

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tiiri, Vaino 1886 births 1966 deaths Finnish male artistic gymnasts Gymnasts at the 1908 Summer Olympics Gymnasts at the 1912 Summer Olympics Olympic gymnasts for Finland Olympic silver medalists for Finland Olympic bronze medalists for Finland Olympic medalists in gymnastics Medalists at the 1912 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1908 Summer Olympics People from Loimaa 20th-century Finnish people