From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Olavi Alakulppi (July 17, 1915 – August 19, 1990) was a Finnish cross country skier who competed in the 1930s. During the Russo-Finnish Continuation War, he served in the Finnish army, and was awarded the Mannerheim Cross. After the Second World War, he made a career in the United States Army.
Alakulppi won a gold medal in the 4 x 10 km cross-country relay at the 1939 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Zakopane.
Alakulppi served in the Finnish Army during the Winter and Continuation Wars. In 1942 he was awarded the Mannerheim Cross.
In 1945, in order to evade prosecution for his involvement in the Weapons Cache Case, he skied to Sweden and arranged for his wife Eevi, their son Vesa, and him to travel to the United States where he soon joined the United States Army. Vesa Alakulppi eventually followed his father into the army and was killed in action during the Vietnam War.[1]
Alakulppi retired from the US Army in 1968 as lieutenant-colonel. He died in 1990, and is buried in the Arlington National Cemetery.
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World champions in men's 4 x 10 km cross-country relay |
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1933: Sweden ( Per-Erik Hedlund, Sven Utterström, Nils-Joel Englund & Hjalmar Bergström) * 1934: Finland ( Sulo Nurmela, Klaes Karppinen, Martti Lappalainen & Veli Saarinen) * 1935: Finland ( Mikko Husu, Klaes Karppinen, Väinö Liikkanen & Sulo Nurmela) * 1937: Norway ( Annar Ryen, Oskar Fredriksen, Sigurd Røen & Lars Bergendahl) * 1938: Finland ( Juho 'Jussi' Kurikkala, Martti Lauronen, Pauli Pitkänen & Klaes Karppinen) * 1939: Finland ( Pauli Pitkänen, Olavi Alakulppi, Eino Olkinuora & Klaes Karppinen) * 1950: Sweden ( Nils Täpp, Karl-Erik Åström, Martin Lundström & Enar Josefsson) * 1954: Finland ( August Kiuru, Tapio Mäkelä, Arvo Viitanen & Veikko Hakulinen) * 1958: Sweden ( Sixten Jernberg, Lennart Larsson, Sture Grahn & Per-Erik Larsson) * 1962: Sweden ( Lars Olsson, Sture Grahn, Sixten Jernberg & Assar Rönnlund) * 1966: Norway: ( Odd Martinsen, Harald Grønningen, Ole Ellefsæter & Gjermund Eggen) * 1970: Soviet Union: ( Vladimir Voronkov, Valery Tarakanov, Fyodor Simashev & Vyacheslav Vedenin) * 1974: East Germany ( Gerd Hessler, Dieter Meinel, Gerhard Grimmer & Gert-Dietmar Klause) * 1978: Sweden ( Sven-Åke Lundbäck, Christer Johansson, Tommy Limby & Thomas Magnusson) * 1982: Norway ( Lars-Erik Eriksen, Ove Aunli, Pål Gunnar Mikkelsplass & Oddvar Brå) and Soviet Union ( Vladimir Nikitin, Alexander Batyuk, Yuriy Burlakov & Alexander Zavyalov) * 1985: Norway ( Arild Monsen, Pål Gunnar Mikkelsplass, Tor Håkon Holte & Ove Aunli) * 1987: Sweden ( Erik Östlund, Gunde Svan, Thomas Wassberg & Torgny Mogren) * 1989: Sweden ( Christer Majbäck, Gunde Svan, Lars Håland & Torgny Mogren) * 1991: Norway ( Øyvind Skaanes, Terje Langli, Vegard Ulvang & Bjørn Dæhlie) * 1993: Norway ( Sture Sivertsen, Vegard Ulvang, Terje Langli & Bjørn Dæhlie) * 1995: Norway ( Sture Sivertsen, Erling Jevne, Bjørn Dæhlie & Thomas Alsgaard) * 1997: Norway ( Sture Sivertsen, Erling Jevne, Bjørn Dæhlie & Thomas Alsgaard) * 1999: Austria ( Markus Gandler, Alois Stadlober, Mikhail Botvinov & Christian Hoffmann) * 2001: Norway ( Frode Estil, Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset, Thomas Alsgaard & Tor Arne Hetland) * 2003: Norway ( Anders Aukland, Frode Estil, Tore Ruud Hofstad & Thomas Alsgaard) * 2005: Norway: ( Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset, Frode Estil, Lars Berger & Tore Ruud Hofstad) * 2007: Norway ( Eldar Rønning, Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset, Lars Berger & Petter Northug) * 2009: Norway: ( Eldar Rønning, Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset, Tore Ruud Hofstad & Petter Northug) |
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