Verner Weckman

Johan Verner Weckman (26 July 1882 – 22 February 1968) was a wrestler who was the first Finnish Olympic gold medalist.

Wrestling

He was inspired to take up wrestling at the age of 15. He joined the club Helsingfors Gymnastikklubben in 1902, then moved to Helsingin Atleettiklubi in 1903. He won the Finnish national Greco-Roman heavyweight championship in 1904. Then he moved to Germany, where he joined the club Germania Karlsruhe.

Weckman was the initiating force behind Finland sending a team to the 1906 Intercalated Games. He was pressured by the German Imperial Committee for Olympic Games to change citizenship and join the German team, but Weckman insisted on representing Finland. He found a private financial supporter and four Finnish competitors travelled to Athens. He won gold in his class: + Verner Weckman in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 1906 Intercalated GamesEventRoundOpponentResultMiddleweight First round WinQuarter-finals WinSemi-finals Win Final Win All-around First bout Bye Second bout Loss The all-around event was exclusively for class-winners, and no physical medals were awarded for the three participants.

He was nominated into the 1908 Finnish Olympic team without trials. According to rumours, Weckman bribed Saarela to throw the final. Modern sportswriters Arto Teronen and Jouko Vuolle consider there to be plenty of circumstantial evidence in favour.

Weckman is the first Finn to win an Olympic gold, both including and excluding the Intercalated Games, and the first Finnish wrestler to win a world championship, although unofficially. Weckman also joked that he was the first Russian Olympic winner, when he met with Soviets during negotiations for the Finnish war reparations to the Soviet Union.

Business career

He completed his matriculation exam at the Helsinki Swedish Real Lyceum in 1902. Then he studied at the Helsinki Polytechnical Institute. He moved abroad in 1904 to avoid conscription. He studied briefly in ETH Zurich and then moved to Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.

He was a deputy board member of The Finnish Employers' Confederation in 1942–1947 and board member in metal industry and engineering associations.

Accolades

He is an honorary chairman of Helsingin Atleettiklubi.

He received the following honorary awards: Commemorative Medal of the Winter War The medal for protesters against Russian military draft 1905–1906 Cross of Merit, in gold, of the Finnish Sports

There is a memorial dedicated to him in his birth town, Loviisa. Made by Matti Haupt in 1963, Olympic rings were added to it in 2010.

Talouselämä magazine listed Weckman among the 100 most significant business executives of Finland's history in 2012.

Family

His parents were farm owner Anders Weckman and Fredrika Johansson.

His first marriage was to Ingrid Suoma Regina Svedberg (1889–1947) in 1910. They had two children: Gunnel Ingrid Emilia (1914–) Per Verner Anders (1916–) He became a widow in 1947 and married Dagmar Maria Falin (former Lund) (1894–) in 1948.