Iso-Hollo leads Paavo Nurmi

“The Last of the Flying Finns” – a turn of phrase which has a seductive ring about it, bringing to mind the adventurous tale of early American Anglo-French conflict, “The Last of the Mohicans”. But like the central characters of James Fenimore Cooper’s novel of 1826 it’s not immediately obvious which individual might be most representative of the end of a line. To be precise, even the identity of the first of the “Flying Finns” – attributed invariably to Paavo Nurmi – can be questioned because Hannes Kolehmainen was by eight years an earlier Olympic champion. 

After Nurmi came a succession of other exceptional – well, maybe not quite so exceptional – distance-runners: Ritola by no means always in Nurmi’s shadow, and Stenroos in the 1920s; Lehtinen, Virtanen, Höckert, Salminen, Askola, Mäki and more in the 1930s; Heino and Hietanen in the 1940s; then an eventual revival of the dynasty by Viren and the unpronounceable Väätäinen from the 1970s onwards. As to which of them was genuinely the last “Flying Finn” is a matter of opinion according to time-frame, and in any case another name should be inserted maybe next to Lehtinen’s; that of Volmari Iso-Hollo, who has claim to being the most versatile of them all. He was Olympic steeplechase champion in 1932 and 1936 (the only double winner of the event until 2012) and concurrently 2^nd and 3^rd at 10,000 metres. Even Nurmi, who had more medals than anyone, could only finish a distant and ungainly 2^nd when he tried the steeplechase at the 1928 Olympics. 

Nurmi’s conqueror that year was yet another “Flying Finn”, Toivo Loukola, who was almost as much of an all-rounder as Iso-Hollo, ranking 4^th in the World at 10,000 metres in that Olympic year of 1928 though 7^th at the Games, a long way behind Nurmi and Ritola. The significant difference between Loukola and Iso-Hollo so far as athletics historians are concerned is that Loukola, unchallenged even by Nurmi, was timed in 9min 21.8sec (actually 9:21⅘) in winning Olympic gold in Amsterdam, whereas Iso-Hollo was exactly 18 seconds faster in Berlin eight years later in 1936, and there’s every reason to believe that the latter would have threatened nine minutes, given the right opportunity. The subsequent World “record”, first set by a Swede, Erik Elmsäter, in 1943, remained to Elmsäter’s credit at a shade under nine minutes, 8:59.6, from 1944 to 1951. It would still be another three years after that until the IAAF got round at last to recognising the event as legitimate – which delay no doubt accounted for such slow development. The last World best performance before IAAF approval was 8:44.4 in 1953 by another Finn, Olavi Rinteenpää.   

Yet more Finns – Pentti Karvonen in the 1950s, Jouko Kuha in the 1960s – would be among the official World record-holders, though of course the Kenyans and others have long since put an end to any likelihood of that happening again. Equally evident, Finns were by no means to the forefront when the 3000 metres steeplechasing distance had been fixed at the 1920 Olympics, and it’s worth looking at that event in some detail as to the reason why.    

The scepticism with which Olympic steeplechasing was regarded in the early years is clearly apparent from the irregularity with which it was held and the varying distances decided upon. There was no steeplechase at the Games of 1896, 1906 and 1912. There were events at 2500 metres and 4000 metres in 1900, 2500 metres again in 1904, and 3200 metres in 1908. The first such race at 3000 metres in Antwerp in 1920 was also the first to have something approaching genuine international competition as there were 16 entrants from Finland, France, Great Britain, Italy, Sweden and the USA. Even so, these were still the formative years of steeplechasing, and only the British and the French had any firmly established experience, their respective national championships dating from 1880 and 1888, though inevitably interrupted for four years by World War I. The USA had introduced the event in 1889 but had not held it between 1906 and 1916. 

Finland’s distance-runners were very largely dominant at those 1920 Games – 2^nd at 5000 metres, 1^st at 10,000 metres, the marathon and cross-country – but seem to have treated the steeplechase as something of a poor relation. Paavo Nurmi would surely have been a contender but could be readily excused further duties because he had already run the heat and final of the 5000 metres and the heat of the 10,000, and was to win the 10,000 gold the same day as the steeplechase final. He would, also, incidentally, add individual and team gold in the cross-country three days later. To be fair, the steeplechase was never to figure very largely in Nurmi’s considerations, even though he won Finnish and English AAA titles and that silver medal in rudimentary fashion at the 1928 Olympics.

The 1920 Olympic competitors for the three heats on Wednesday 18 August were the following: Finland – Oskari Rissanen, Ilmari Vesamaa. France – Edmond Brossard, Robert Geyer, Georges Guillon, Frédéric Langrenay. Great Britain – Percy Hodge. Italy – Ernesto Ambrosini, Carlo Martinenghi. Sweden – Lars Hedvall, Josef Holsner, Gustaf Mattsson. USA – Michael Devaney, Patrick Flynn, Albert Hulsebosch, Ray Watson.

This entry-list was, in effect, representative of the entire hierarchy of distance-running. All of these countries except Finland provided the finalists in the 3000 metres team race two days later (the Finns did not enter – it is to be wondered why). All except Italy provided the first five team places in the cross-country race the day after that, and Mattsson was 10^th finisher and in the bronze-medal-winning team. Comparing individual form beforehand would have been a tricky business, had anyone been interested in doing so, bearing in mind the variations in steeplechase courses and distances, and again it makes sense to examine the situation country-by-country:

Finland – there had been some form of steeplechase competition in the country since 1905, and in 1915 Albin Stenroos, who would be Olympic marathon champion in 1924, had run 9:57.6, though there had been no water-jump in that race. There would not be a steeplechase at the national championships until 1923, when Nurmi would win in 9:54.8.

France – a 4000 metres steeplechase event had been contested at the national championships until 1914 but had not been revived after the war. The first steeplechase title race at 3000 metres would not be until 1922 when Edmond Brossard would win in 10:13.2. Brossard had won the national title at 800 metres in 1919 in two minutes exactly.

Great Britain – Percy Hodge, born in Guernsey, in the Channel Islands, on Boxing Day 1890, and employed at the Vickers aircraft factory in Surrey, had served in the army as a Private and was not released from duty until towards the end of 1919. He had won the AAA two miles steeplechase that year (and would do so again in 1920, 1921 and 1923), and had placed 9^th in the International Championships cross-country of 1920, though only the 5^th scorer in England’s totally dominant team. Possessed of exceptional basic speed, including apparently a 440 yards in 50.2 in 1917, he regularly gave spectacular exhibitions to excited crowds at athletics meetings of his hurdling prowess, carrying a tray with a glass of water placed on it, and never – or at least rarely – spilling a drop ! 

His winning times in the AAA steeplechase events had not been exceptional, but even so it seems odd that he was the only Briton sent to the Games for this event. A case could have been made out for Charles Ruffell, in 2^nd place at the 1920 AAA race, who had competed on the flat at the 1912 Games and won the National cross-country title in 1914. In addition, the 1920 Midland two miles steeplechase title had been won by Jack McKenna in 10:56.0, though he does not figure in the AAA results that year. “The Times” was to remark after the Antwerp final that “it is to be regretted that there were not more English entries for the event”, though their correspondent’s further claim that “it is apparent that we have the men in the United Kingdom who would have won almost all six places” was fanciful, to say the least ! 

Hodge had enjoyed a successful cross-country season, after starting with a modest 6^th place in the South of the Thames championships over Epsom Downs on 14 February, almost a minute behind his Surrey AC club-mate, James Hatton. The Southern title was won at Kenley Aerodrome a fortnight later by another Surrey member, James Pratt, with Ruffell 2^nd and Hodge 3^rd. The National, at Windsor Great Park on 13 March, went to the visiting Frenchman, Joseph Guillemot (who would be Olympic 5000 metres champion), and Surrey AC lost the team title by only six points to Birchfield Harriers, as Hatton, Hodge and Pratt all finished in the first 10 to gain selection for the International at Belvoir Park, near Belfast, on 3 April, where Hodge’s 9^th place and Hatton’s 14^th helped England to an easy team success. On the track Hodge beat Ruffell by 10 seconds in the two miles steeplechase at the Olympic trials meeting at Stamford Bridge on 12 June.   

Italy – the first steeplechase at the national championships would not be held until 1923, and Ernesto Ambrosini had won the 800 and 1500 titles on the flat in 1920. He had already run in the 800 heats and semi-finals in Antwerp and would also be taking part in the 3000 metres team race. It might thus have been thought that the steeplechase was no more than a time-filler for him, except that he was eventually to become a proficient exponent, setting a World best of 9:36.6 in 1923.

Sweden –  a Swede, Josef Ternström, who was a 1912 Olympic cross-country team gold-medallist, had run a commendable 9:49.8 “steeplechase” in 1915 on a bizarre figure-of-eight course in Malmö which included stone walls as well as hurdles and a water-jump. One of the three Swedes in Antwerp, Gustaf Mattsson, had finished 6^th in that race and in a long career would eventually set a personal best of 10:05.4 in 1923.

USA – the Americans had the greatest strength in depth, headed by Patrick Flynn, who had won the AAU national title in July in a national record 9:58.2 by 40 yards from Mike Devaney, with Albert Hulsebosch another 10 yards further back. Flynn, as his name suggests, was Irish-born, in Bandon, County Cork, on 17 December 1894, and had been an undistinguished distance-runner until persuaded to take up the steeplechase. Soon afterwards he had placed 2^nd to Devaney by only 20 yards in the 1919 AAU Championships.

Devaney’s full first names were Michael Aloysius, which is also indicative of Irish heritage, though he had been born in New Jersey. He had won the AAU 880 yards in 1915 in 1:57.0 and the indoor two miles and outdoor steeplechase in 1916, and he would eventually run his fastest 3000 metres steeplechase of 9:44.4 in 1924.  Hulsebosch was of Dutch descent but also born in New Jersey. Ray Watson, 4^th in the US Olympic trials, would later switch to the half-mile and mile and would also compete on the flat in the Games of 1924 and 1928.

The first three in each of three heats of the Antwerp Olympic steeplechase were to go through to the final two days later. As was so often the case in that era of Olympic competition, the organisers showed no inclination to re-arrange the heats to allow for late withdrawals. Thus there were only four runners in the first heat, with just one to be eliminated. There were five runners in heat two and seven in heat three. All four Frenchmen, a Finn (Vesamaa), an Italian and a Swede were out of the qualifying places, and as can be seen from the results there was not much competitiveness about the whole business.

Heat 3 1 - 1 Devaney 10:23.0 (Olympic record), 2 Ambrosini 10:32.6, 3 Rissanen 11:07.5, 4  Brossard. Heat 2 - 1 Flynn 10:36.0, 2 Hedvall 10:43.5, 3 Watson 10:49.0, 4 Geyer 11:11.9,  Holsner did not finish. Heat 3 – 1 Hodge 10:17.4 (Olympic record), 2 Mattsson 10:23.0, 3 Hulsebosch 10:27.0, 4 Vesamaa 10:31.5, 5 Langrenay 10:39.8, 6 Guillon 10:44.3, Martinenghi did not finish.  Thus the finalists were Devaney, Flynn, Hulsebosch, Watson (all USA), Hedvall, Mattsson (both Sweden), Rissanen (Finland), Hodge (GB) and Ambrosini (Italy),

No better accounts of the manner of Hodge’s victory in the 1920 AAA Championships two miles steeplechase at Stamford Bridge on 3 July and the Olympic Games 3000 metres steeplechase in Antwerp on 20 August are to be found than those of the renowned English coach and indefatigable writer, Captain F.A.M. Webster, in his book, “Great Moments In Athletics”, published in 1947. Captain Webster, who was an accredited journalist at those meetings, described Hodge’s unusual style of running and the outcome of the races in fascinating and informative detail, as follows.  

“A man whose steeplechasing always amused and thrilled me was Percy Hodge, of Vickers and the Surrey Athletic Club. This pale, long-limbed, red-headed fellow first came on the scene in 1919 to take the English title in 11min 53.6sec. There was nothing unorthodox or particularly outstanding about his form that year, but a year later, when he won again in slightly faster time, he gave an exhibition of cool courage and great determination which I have seldom seen equaled. Coming to the water-jump in the second lap Hodge seemed to slip, floundered over the obstacle, and fell right into the water-filled ditch. There was a gasp of horror from the spectators as the man following jumped right on top of him and spiked him badly in the heel. Hodge, however, appeared to be quite unperturbed, splashed his way on to dry land, removed his shoe, which had been torn partly off his foot, replaced it with the most meticulous care, and then set off in pursuit of C.H. Ruffell, who by that time had secured a lead of nearly 100 yards. In the next furlong Hodge cut down the leader’s advantage by 30 yards. In the next two laps he was once again on terms with his field, and in the penultimate lap he overtook Ruffell also. At the bell he was leading by 80 yards, and he won by 60 yards in 11min 22.8sec. This was an almost incredible performance, and I have often wondered at what figure the record would now stand had that early accident not occurred.

“By the time Hodge went to Belgium to win in 1920 the Olympic steeplechase title for Great Britain he had evolved his purely personal and most peculiar style of steeplechasing. In fact, the USA coaches, with whom I sat while we watched Hodge win his race, one and all agreed that never in their lives had they seen an athlete with so many glaring running faults travel and take his obstacles at such an astounding speed. He was running like a man who is trying to save himself from falling flat on his face, and he continued to do so right up to the end of his career some years later, when he retired and took a hotel.

“His shoulders were bowed, his body bent in at the waist, and in the early stages of the race he took each hurdle in the old-fashioned bent-legged manner. But so soon as he felt the least sign of fatigue overtaking him he altered his action. His leading leg then went straight up and was thrown outwards across the hurdle, over which he passed with a sort of falling-forward action. This looked ludicrous but was in reality far faster and far less exhausting than the style he had employed earlier in the race. His speed increased as he approached each water-jump, which he did with set determination. He went over the hedge in such a way that he always landed with one foot in the water and the other on the slope leading to dry land. This meant that he always got back into his running stride at once and so was away quicker than his rivals.

“When we got to Antwerp, Percy Hodge raised our hopes considerably by his performance in the preliminary heats. These were held at 10 a.m., which is a horrible hour from the competing athlete’s point of view. Hodge started by beating G. Mattsson, of Sweden, just as he liked in 10min 17.4sec. The other two heats both went to the USA. Before the final, which took place two days later at the even worse hour of 9 a.m., poor Percy was as nervous as a kitten, pale and perspiring perceptibly, but thus also I have seen many brave soldiers on the eve of battle.

“The fact that the final contest began with one false start, simply due to over-strained nerves, did not improve matters. The impulsive nature of the Italian, Ambrosini, caused him to rush right into the lead at the flash of the pistol, and the normally steady but now startled Swede, Mattsson, dashed after him. Hodge and Flynn, however, of the more phlegmatic temperament of the English-speaking peoples, although already ahead of the rest of the runners, were steadying themselves for the first of the fences.

“A sudden rush took Hodge into 2^nd place at the end of the first lap, and in the next he was in the lead. At the half-distance Flynn produced a strong challenge, but Hodge was entertaining no opposition. He fought off the American’s effort and forged ahead to win comfortably by 50 yards. The state of tension in which he ran, although he was to all outward appearances perfectly calm, is illustrated by the fact that he never heard the clatter of the bell rung as a warning for the last lap. His language later on, when he realised this circumstance, was even more surprising than his own revolutionary style. He had won the race by 10.4sec from Flynn and Ambrosini, but it might have been much faster had he heard that bell and produced his usual fast finish”.  

The 1920 Olympic Games 3000 metres steeplechase result: 1 Hodge 10:00.4 (Olympic record), 2 Flynn 10:21.0, 3 Ambrosini 10:32.0, 4 Mattsson 10:32.1, 5 Devaney 10:34.3, 6 Hulsebosch 10:37.7, 7 Hedvall 10:42.2, 8 Watson 10:50.3, Rissanen did not finish.

The lone Finn in that final, Rissanen, was maybe more of a 1500 metres runner than a steeplechaser, as there is a photograph preserved on the internet showing him close behind Nurmi (at least briefly !) in what is described as the Finnish Olympic trial 1500 metres for the 1920 Games. By 1924 the Finns had begun to take the steeplechase seriously, and Ville Ritola won the Olympic title from his compatriot, Elias Katz, in 9:33.6, with all of the first six, including Britain’s Evelyn Montague – a future athletics correspondent of renown for the “Manchester Guardian” newspaper – in 6^th place, breaking 10 minutes. Montague’s 9:58.0 beat Hodge’s inaugural British record.  

Although Hodge was selected for the two miles team race in the 1920 post-Olympic British Empire-v-USA match, he has no track times to his credit of any note at all at flat distances beyond one mile. His best performances in addition to the surprising (and maybe too surprising) 50.2 for 440 yards mentioned above were 880 yards in 1:58.5 in 1921, one mile in 4:32.6 in 1916, and the two miles steeplechase in 10:57.2 in winning the 1921 AAA title.  He also led home a 1-2-3 for England against France the next year at Stamford Bridge when the steeplechase was enterprisingly held over the 3000 metres distance but not staged again until 1929. In 4^th place in that 1922 Anglo-French encounter was Paul Bontemps, who was to enjoy the “fine weather” days deserving of his name in 1924, setting a World best of 9:33⅖ and then taking the bronze medal at the Olympics.

Volmari Fritjof Iso-Hollo was born the only son with four sisters on 5 January 1907 in the town of Ylöjarvi, which is some 190 kilometres (120 miles) north of Helsinki and is more renowned for its ice-hockey players than its athletes. Iso-Hollo’s early sporting activities were boxing, gymnastics and ski-ing until he took up running during army service and then had his first successes of note in unusual circumstances, winning the 5000 metres and 2^nd at 1500 and 10,000 metres in the Soviet Union national championships of 1928 in Moscow. Other foreign athletes in that 10,000 were named as Gamm (Germany), Timbrell (Great Britain) and Vensen (France), none of whom figure in any ATFS World rankings, which rather suggests that they were  representing  some workers’ political organisations. Iso-Hollo’s best 5000 of 15:18.7 that year ranked him 21^st in Finland.

By the beginning of Olympic year 1932 Iso-Hollo was one of the very best distance runners in the World – on the flat. During 1931 he had run 14:36.3 for 5000 metres, ranking behind only Lehtinen’s 14:31.7, also in Helsnki six days earlier. Then when the two met up in mid-August, again in Helsinki, Lehtinen won, 14:36.6 to 14:39.7, and such was the strength in depth that even the 10^th Fin(n)isher in that race ranked in the World’s top 40 ! A fortnight later Iso-Hollo ran Nurmi desperately close in the Sweden-v-Finland match 10,000 metres in Stockholm, 30:50.6 to 30:51.4. Steeplechase form that year was in short supply because only Finland, France, Great Britain and the USA held races of any worthwhile calibre, and the Olympic favourites would seem to be the defending champion from four years before, Loukola, at 9:27.0 and one of the numerous craggy cross-country runners from the North of England, Tom Evenson, at 9:27.4. There was no mark for Iso-Hollo, whose best remained 9:41.0 from 1929.

Historical accounts of steeplechasing in the 1930s give the distinct impression that Iso-Hollo was the totally dominant figure, but this was far from the case. The Finnish authorities held a steeplechase trial for the 1932 Olympics at Viipuri (now Vyborg in Russia) on 26 June, and the result was sensational: Verner Toivonen 8:59.6, Martti Matilainen 9:05.7, Kaarlo Tuominen 9:07.0. Unfortunately, the distance turned out to be 35 metres short and there was one hurdle missing, but even allowing a very conservative additional 10 seconds for such shortcomings Toivonen had seemingly run some 60 or 70 metres faster than Loukola in 1928. It can only be wondered as to whether Toivonen and the others knew beforehand that the course was deficient, or were there excited celebrations afterwards by the competitors until the dismal news was broken ? One immediate outcome of the race was that Loukola failed to finish, and the national selectors showed no mercy and did not select him for Los Angeles. While his compatriots were making the long journey to the Olympics, Loukola ran a 9:32.8 in Helsinki which maybe suggested he would not have been a medal contender anyway. 

The week before that dramatic Olympic steeplechase trial Lauri Lehtinen and Ilmari Iso-Hollo had contested an even more startling 5000 metres, both breaking Nurmi’s World record of 14:28.4 from 1924 by a huge margin – Lehtinen 14:16.9, Iso-Hollo 14:18.3. In May Nurmi had won a 10,000 in his native Turku very narrowly from Lauri Virtanen, 30:40.9 to 30:41.4, and the team choices for the Games seemed to be settled, but Nurmi’s eventual destination in Los Angeles was to be the press-box and not the track or road (he had designs on the marathon) because he was banned by the IAAF officialdom meeting in special session for infringing the amateurism rules. Nurmi had presumably also intended running the 10,000 metres, but his expulsion left Iso-Hollo and Virtanen as the two Finns among the 16 starters – otherwise, three from the USA; two each from Argentina and Japan; one each from Brazil, Canada, Germany, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland and Sweden.

The Pole, Janusz Kusocinski, had no doubt caused a stir in June among the Finnish cognoscenti by running a 10,000 in 30:31.4 in Warsaw (Nurmi’s World record from 1924 was 30:06.2) and then breaking Nurmi’s 3000 metres World record in Antwerp with a time of 8:18.8. No distance runner from Poland had ever previously approached anywhere near such a standard, but Kusocinski proved his class in Los Angeles by leading the 10,000 at halfway, letting Iso-Hollo make the pace for much of the second half, and than going ahead again in the last kilometre. The winning time was 30:11.4, less than five seconds outside Nurmi’s record. Iso Hollo was a close 2^nd, 30:12.6, and Virtanen a distant but unchallenged 3^rd. Kusocinski was the first non-Finnish Olympic 10,000 metres champion since the event was introduced in 1912. The three Americans, including one of dual US/Finnish nationality, Eino Pentti, all failed to finish. 

That race took place on the opening day of athletics, 31 July, and logically Iso-Hollo would then have lined up with Lehtinen and Virtanen for the 5000 metres heats two days later. So why did he instead choose to run the steeplechase heats on the intervening day ? Finland had sent Toivonen and Matilainen but not Tuominen, 3^rd-placed in the trials and a serious medal contender. Did Iso-Hollo persuade the selectors before departure for the USA that he merited  selection even though he hadn’t run the event for three years ? Or did he decide once he was in Los Angeles that he would opt for that event instead of the 5000 ? The most apparent steeplechase opposition was that of Joe McCluskey, who had won the US trials in a World best 9:14.5 on 16 July, with Walter Pritchard and Glen Dawson only 20 yards or so behind.  

Whatever Iso-Hollo’s thinking, his return was astonishing, winning his heat in 9:14.6 from McCluskey, 9:14.8, and Dawson, 9:15.0 – all of which strenuous effort was totally unnecessary because Matilainen needed only 9:43.0 in 5^thplace to also qualify for the final on 6 August. Having maybe resisted the temptation to fill in time by running  the 5000 heats on 2 August and final three days later (Lehtinen won controversially from Ralph Hill, of the USA, with Virtanen 3^rd), any hopes of a much faster time for Iso-Hollo in the steeplechase final were thwarted by officiating incompetence. Those responsible for counting the laps either weren’t paying attention or got their numbers wrong and the competitors were sent on after Iso-Hollo had passed 3000 metres in 9:18.8 and eventually covered 3460 metres before Iso-Hollo won very easily from Tom Evenson, of Great Britain and McCluskey, more than 12 seconds behind, with Matalainen 4^th and Toivonen right out of it, 9^th. There was talk of a re-run but apparently Evenson and McCluskey demurred, having obviously been beaten by a much better man. 

The 1932 Olympic Games 3000 metres steeplechase result (actually 3460 metres)); 1 Volmari Iso-Hollo (Finland) 10:33.4, 2 Tom Evenson (GB) 10:46.0, 3 Joe McCluskey (USA) 10:46.2, 4 Martti Matilainen (Finland) 10:51.4, 5 George Bailey (GB)10:53.2, 6 Glen Dawson (USA) 10:58.0, 7 Giuseppe Lippi (Italy) 11:04.0, 8 Walter Pritchard (USA) 11:04.5, 9 Verner Toivonen (Finland) 11:10.2, 10 Nelio Bartolini (Italy) 11:29.0.  

Evenson, who was a cabinet-maker in Manchester by occupation, was one of Britain’s finest distance-runners, having won the International cross-country title, contested by the UK home countries, Belgium, France and Ireland, for the second time in March of 1932. McCluskey, still only 21 when he had his Olympic bronze, came to be rightly described as one of the outstanding US distance men of his generation, winning the AAU steeplechase nine times  between 1930 and 1943 and the 5000 metres in 1935 and 1937 and 10,000 in 1942. Evenson and George Bailey, a Derbyshire quarry worker, who had placed 5^th in Los Angeles, met up with Iso-Hollo again when he came to London for the 1933 AAA Championships, though to say they “met up” is a misnomer because mostly the English pair saw only the Finn’s back as he won by over half-a-minute from Bailey, with Evenson 4^th.  

Exactly what the difference in ability was is explained in admirable detail by the reporter present that day for the London “Daily Herald” newspaper (named as “Corinthian” and maybe F.A.M. Webster): “At the first time over the water G.W. Bailey was close up to the Finn, but after the landing he was fully six yards behind. I saw Bailey straighten up as if wondering where his opponent had been shot from. What had happened was this – Iso-Hollo had placed his right foot on the top bar of the hurdle and leaped so far from there that he cleared the water entirely, whereas Bailey dropped with both feet near the middle of the ditch. Each water-jump meant a gain of yards to this splendid Finnish runner, and it was almost pathetic to see one of our British runners trying the same trick when he was hopelessly tailed off by Iso-Hollo”. The winning time of 10:06.6 would remain a Championship record until 1950, and fellow-Finn Lauri Lehtinen in the AAA three miles set a British all-comers record 14:09.2.    

Where other writers over the years had missed the true story, the doyen of athletics historians and statisticians in Finland, Matti Hannus, brought Iso-Hollo’s character and achievements properly  to light with a comprehensive profile in the 1990 ATFS Annual. “A prolific racer par excellence Iso-Hollo felt at home at almost any distance during his up-and-down career which spanned more than 20 years”, Hannus wrote. “In spite of ailing health (he was plagued by hereditary rheumatoid arthritis which would eventually kill him at the age of 62), he would always be back, as extrovert, optimistic and good-humoured as ever – a complete contrast with Nurmi and many other solemn-faced Finns”. 

Matti Hannus chronicled Iso-Hollo’s career year-by year, noting, “1933 – a great season, one of the greatest any Finnish runner ever had, adding up to 36 starts. Highlights of this gigantic task were a 3000 metres steeplechase World best of 9:09.4 on 28 May in Lahti; the AAA two miles steeplechase title in front of 50,000 people; 3000 metres in 8:19.6, just inches behind Lehtinen; a local 400 metres race in 51.6 (a time of which his Finnish rivals couldn’t dream about); victory over 36-year-old Nurmi in a 15,000 metres track race in Viipuri and another a week later in a 25-kilometre road race in Helsinki (Nurmi dropped out and never raced again)”. The steeplechase time was achieved with successive kilometres of 2:58, 3:02 and 3:09, winning by more than a quarter-of-a-minute from Toivonen, and it can be imagined that with someone to push him Iso-Hollo would have been very much closer to nine minutes.  

Certainly, Richard Szreter, who was one of the most literate of athletics writers in a later age, the 1960s, thought so, but with some proviso. Because he was Polish-born, Szreter took a particular interest in Iso-Hollo and his Los Angeles 10,000 metres against Kusocinski. Writing in 1964 in the Polish athletics publication, “Lekkoatletyka”, Szreter observed, “The difficult event the Finns term the ‘3000 metrin esteet’ came naturally to Iso-Hollo. Technique and rhythm never caused him any problems; his running was completely fluent; no changing pace before the barriers and compensating on the flat. Had the competition in the ‘chase been stronger and more frequent in his day, then surely Iso-Hollo, and not the Swede, Elmsäter, as late as 1944, would have been the first to duck under nine minutes. Or was it that unlike most of his austere compatriots, Volmari Iso-Hollo was relatively cheerful, not too earnest in his attitude to sport and less devoted to training ?”

Iso-Hollo had also had an offcial World record at four miles (the last to be recognised at that distance) in Viipuri in 1933, beating a 19:02.6 by Kusocinski a month or so before the Olympics, A visit to Brazil early in 1934 then held out much exotic promise, but Iso-Hollo suffered severely  from arthritis for the first time and did not race again until the 1935 season; even so, ranking 7^th in the World (and 7^th Finn !) at 5000 metres. He was in the Finnish team which travelled to Glasgow for a one-day international against Great Britain at Hampden Park, entered in both the mile and the steeplechase. Rather surprisingly he lost the mile after taking a commanding lead on the last lap to Aubrey Reeve, 4:18.0 to 4:18.2, and the Finnish management were so impressed by Reeve that at the banquet after the meeting they presented him with a trophy they had brought with them for the best performance by their hosts. Reeve was a capable enough athlete, having beaten Sydney Wooderson and Jack Lovelock in a mile the previous year and figuring in the Berlin Olympic 5000 metres final, but overcoming both Iso-Hollo and Gunnar Höckert, Olympic 5000 metres champion to be, in that mile was surely an unforgettable experience for him. In the two miles steeplechase at that GB-v-Finland match Iso-Hollo and Matilainen left the unfortunate British pair far behind, and Finland won the match by 78pts to 70.  

Taking up the story in the Olympic year of 1936, Hannus wrote, “Always a man for big occasions, Iso-Hollo did not race much in early season, concentrating for the major task. It is interesting to note his last tune-up at a Hausjärvi local meet on 25 July: 400 metres hurdles 61.8, 800 metres 2:00.6, 5000 metres 15:22.8 – all in the space of one hour. In Berlin Iso-Hollo had the honour of securing the Finnish 10,000 metres triple victory behind Ilmari Salminen and Arve Askola on 2 August. In the steeplechase final on  8 August (five days after the heats !), his splendid technique soon carried him into a lead that he was not going to surrender. Shadowed by hard-fighting countryman Kaarlo Tuominen and Germany’s 21-year-old Alfred Dompert, Iso-Hollo won in 9:03.8, which would remain the World best for seven years and a Finnish best for 16 years”.

It was not all easy going for the Finnish trio, though. F.A.M. Webster was in the press-box and he later wrote, “How Dompert found the energy to pass Tuominen I know not. Perhaps the frantic howls of his German compatriots, including the Fuehrer standing up in the tribune and shouting like the rest, inspired him. Be that as it may, Dompert became a definite, determined threat to the Finns in the final drive. He ruined the Finnish sweep to complete victory by cutting down Matilainen in a great rush between obstacles and gave Tuominen the scare of his life that he would lose the silver medal. But the Finn won the struggle by a couple of strides and Iso-Hollo was already too far ahead in front to be affected”.

The 1936 Olympic Games 3000 metres steeplechase result : 1 Volmari Iso-Hollo (Finland) 9:03.8, 2 Kaarlo Tuominen (Finland) 9:06.8, 3 Alfred Dompert (Germany) 9:07.2, 4 Martti Matilainen (Finland) 9:09.0, 5 Harold Manning (USA) 9:11.2, 6 Lars Larsson (Sweden) 9:16.6, 7 Voldemars Vitols (Latvia) 9:18.8, 8 Glen Dawson (USA) 9:21.2, 9 Wilhelm Heyn (Germany) 9:26.4, 10 Joe McClusey (USA) 9:29.4, 11 Roger Rérolle (France) 9:40.8, Harry Holmqvist (Sweden) did not finish. 

It was fair compensation for Tuominen, who had missed out on selection in 1932, but, frustrating for Matilainen, 4^th, as he had been in Los Angeles). Manning had beaten Iso-Hollo’s World best with 9:08.2 at the US trials the previous month. Also surviving from 1932 were the other Americans, Glen Dawson and Joe McCluskey, and the sturdy challenge offered the Finns by Manning, McCluskey and Dawson was all the more remarkable because they had  developed their early careers at university, and the furthest distance run at the US National Collegiate championships was two miles until 1959, except for a 5000 metres in Olympic years, but only from 1936 onwards, and there was no steeplechase again until 1959, but for Olympic years from 1948. The organisers of the European Championships were equally lacking in enterprise as there was no steeplechase in 1934 or 1938.  

Matti Hannus gives more detail of Iso-Hollo’s 1936 season; “After the Games Iso-Hollo let himself loose, racing 21 times from 21 August to 18 October. Included were the second fastest 5000 metres of his career and a 15,000 metres World record of 46:45.4 in Viipuri, ahead of Ilmari Salminen, Juan Zabala and Toivo Loukola – Olympic Champions all of them”. Iso-Hollo was also credited in that race with World best times en route for seven, eight and nine miles, and these had some historical interest because they removed Alfred Shrubb’s marks from 32 years before but by less than 20 seconds in each case. The 15 kilometres time improved on Nurmi’s 46:49.6 from 1928, but the IAAF had dropped the distance from its schedule thereafter, and so Iso-Hollo went uncredited. 

Further illness in 1937 and 1938 kept him out of the European Championships 5000 and 10,000 in the latter year (wins for Mäki and Salminen instead), but Iso-Hollo was still able to turn out for the 1937 Finland-v-GB match in Helsinki on 4-5 September, and he and Tuominen won as they liked, 9:33.6 and 9:33.7, with the first of the Britons, Charles Griffiths, 100 metres behind. It must have been a chastening experience for Griffiths in his only international appearance and his only metric steeplechase, but to give him his due he ran as fast as he could, 9:50.6. As Griffiths had not taken part in the AAA Championships; it’s hard to understand why he was thrown in at the deep end, figuratively speaking, against the formidable Finns, but such unlikely decisions were made by the British selectors then ... and still sometimes are ! 

Iso-Hollo ran 148 races between 1935 and 1939, and among them made another visit to Scotland in the last of those years, less than a month before the start of World War II. This must have been a memorable occasion for him because he took part in an eight-lap handicap steeplechase at Ibrox Park, Glasgow, conceding starts of up to 360 yards, including 150 yards to Bill Wylie, from a north-east of England club, Darlington Harriers, who had finished a distant last in the 1937 Finland-GB match but had won the AAA title that year. Iso-Hollo relentlessly overtook his opponents with consummate ease to win by 100 yards, and the reporter for “The Scotsman” newspaper commented admiringly, “He caught the last of his rivals by the  time he had completed three-quarters of the journey, and both his time and his skilful negotiation of the water-jump have never been equalled in Scotland”. Two days later Iso-Hollo was at the White City Stadium, in London, for a holiday Monday “British Games” to which a host of foreign athletes had been invited, sponsored by the “News of the World” Sunday newspaper, but was uncharacteristically last in a mile race. There were 60,000 spectators.  

The World rankings leader in 1939 was a German, Ludwig Kaindl, at 9:06.8, and  he also ran 1:52.8 for 800 metres and 3:50.2 for 1500 metres, which was significantly faster than Iso-Hollo’s best (1:58.2 in 1935, 3:54.3 in 1936), but the war put paid to any thoughts of a sub-nine breakthrough. In 1940 Iso-Hollo ran a 9:30.0 steeplechase in Stockholm, though a long way behind a Swede, Nils Ollander, 9:14.8. Ollander had twice threatened Iso-Hollo’s World best within a couple of days a week or so before, with 9:05.2 and 9:06.8, but is long since forgotten by researchers, as is another Swede, Erik Arvidsson, 9:05.2 in 1941, 9:04.8 in 1942, plus eight other sub-9:13 timings. The Finnish-Russian war required Iso-Hollo to be on active service until 1944, but even so he returned to the track in 1945 at the age of 38, finishing 4^th in the national championships steeplechase in 9:51.0, and then decided to try the marathon. Whether he took training rather more seriously is not recorded, but in any case the domestic opposition was formidable and he was 8^th in the qualifying race for the 1946 European Championships in Oslo, where Finns Mikko Hietanen and Väino Muinonen (the 1938 winner) were 1^st and 2^nd.

In 1950, now 43, Iso-Hollo ran the last steeplechase of his career in 9:50.2, and maybe he mused that the European-title-winning time of 9:05.4 that year by a Czech, Jindřich Roudny, was still slower than he had run 14 years before. Not only had a Czech – inspired, of course, by the peerless Zátopek – won the gold but a Yugoslav, Petar Šegedin, was 2^nd, with a Finn, Erik Blomster, 3^rd, and amongst the top 40 in the World thzt year were also to be found representatives of Belgium, France, Germany (the 1936 Olympic bronze-medallist, Alfred Dompert), Great Britain, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Rumania, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the USA and the USSR. The Olympic gold in 1948 had also been won in slower time than Iso-Hollo by Thore Sjöstrand, of Sweden, in 9:04.6, with compatriots 2^nd (Elmsäter) and 3^rd, and the best of the Finns 5^th. 

Matti Hannus concluded in his 1990 assessment of Iso-Hollo, “What a talent he was, a fanatic. He did not start training until mid-March, often practising at the water-jump he had himself built in the solitary woods near his home. Bohemian as an athlete, a perfect example as a citizen, there was not another runner like him until Gaston Roelants in the 1960s. It is fascinating to ponder what he could have done on modern training methods in the steeplehase … or in the mile … or the 400 metres … or in the Olympic marathon in Berlin”.

Volmari Iso-Hollo,; whjo was 5ft 9in (1.76m) tall,  died on 23 June 1969, having been at various times in his life employed as a printer, a store-keeper and a sports instructor. In the year of his death the World record for the steeplechase was held by a Finn, Jouko Kuha, at 8:24.2, though Vladimir Dudin, of the USSR, had a time pending of 8:22.2. At the 1968 Olympics Kenyans had finished 1^st and 2^nd. 

Note: thanks to Matti Hannus for so much valuable information on Finnish steeplechasing.