Paavo Nurmi

Born into a working-class Finnish family in 1897, Nurmi left school at 12 to work, then found his model in Hannes Kolehmainen's Olympic runs and built a training regimen no one else was using. He arrived at the 1920 Olympics and took gold in the 10,000 m and cross country after a silver in the 5,000 m. By 1923 he held the world record in the mile, 5,000 m, and 10,000 m simultaneously - a feat never matched. At the 1924 Paris Games, unbothered by a heat wave, he set world records in the 1,500 m and 5,000 m an hour apart and won five golds, though Finnish officials kept him out of the 10,000 m. After injuries and a draining U.S. tour, he reclaimed the 10,000 m in 1928 but lost the 5,000 m, then chased longer distances and aimed to retire with a marathon gold. Two days before the 1932 Olympics, the IAAF suspended him over amateur status questions and barred his entry; the suspension stuck, and he never ran the race. He coached, raised war funds, traded in haberdashery and stocks, grew wealthy, and in 1952 lit the Olympic flame in Helsinki.