Kaarina Kari

Kaarina Kari (17 December 1888 – 21 March 1982) was a Finnish physician, gymnastics teacher and writer. She served as president of the Finnish Women's Physical Education Association, led the Finnish women's gymnastics team at the 1936 Summer Olympics and was one of the first pleasure hikers to hike Halti, Finland's highest fell.

Biography Kari was born in Kuhmalahti, Pirkanmaa, Finland, in 1888. Her father, Kaarlo Gustav Salin, changed his name to Kaarlo Kustaa Kari and worked as a priest.

Kari founded a school in Tampere and in 1908.

Kari graduated as a licentiate in medicine in 1925, She was a member of the Helsinki City Council from 1926 to 1928 and a member of the State Sports Board from 1945 to 1953.

In 1927, Kaarina Kari was on a study trip in Sweden and observed the practice where schoolchildren used their vacation time for guided fell skiing trips. She wrote to the Ministry of Education's camping board and proposed that railway discounts be granted to school groups for skiing trips.

At the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, Kari led the Finnish women's gymnastics team. She covered the hike in her book The Conquest of Halt (1978). She also published health care textbooks that were used in schools and educational literature on abstinence and against cigarette smoking.

Kari died in 1982 in Helsinki, aged 93.

Awards

Cross of Merit of the Red Cross of Finland (1941) Order of the Cross of Liberty, 4th Class (1942) Knight of the Order of the Lion of Finland, First Class (1944) Finnish Olympic Cross of Merit, First Class (1952) The Great Cross of Merit of Finnish Sports and Culture of Physical Exercise (1954)