A view of Athletics, number 6: Nurmi’s five gold medals from the Paris 2024 Olympics to be on show during this summer’s Games in French capital

This is a huge story for your editor. One of the most treasured keepsakes I have, now in my son’s possession, is a postcard from my Grandfather, Earl Robertson, who died in 1988. A colorful character, if there ever was one, Grandpa and I had a tumultuous relationship. Near the end of his life, we found a compromise. He wrote me a postcard about Paavo Nurmi, who had seen race as a kid (he was born in 1911). It was in a note to me about my son Adams’ birth. 

I am so looking forward to seeing these medals. Paavo Nurmi raced 64-plus times in the US in 1925. Generations of Americans have heard the stories, generation after generation, of seeing the Flying Finn.

Congrats to my friend Chris Turner at WA Heritage for staging this coup. I believe I met Chris in 1995 at Goteborg. The guy knows track like no one else. His family was in the newspaper business, and he has a wonderful obsession with Finnish athletics, hence his Twitter handle, @nurmi1924. 

And thanks to Mike Rowbottom for his wonderful story. 

Nurmi’s five gold medals from the Paris 2024 Olympics to be on show during this summer’s Games in the French capital

The five gold medals won by Finland’s Paavo Nurmi at the 1924 Paris Olympics – the most gained at a single Games by any track and field athlete – will return to the French capital a century later as part of a larger exhibition.

The first victory for the then 27-year-old “Flying Finn” came in the 1500m on July 10. Less than an hour later, he had another Olympic gold to add to his collection after winning the 5,000m.

Two days later, Nurmi won the individual cross country title in a race run in 45C heat. A total of 38 runners from 10 nations started; only 15 finished. Nurmi also picked up a team gold with silver medallists Ville Ritola and Heikki Liimateinen.

The next day, Nurmi, Ritola, and Sameli Tala won gold in the 3,000-meter team race.

Thanks to the Nurmi family’s kind generosity, at Chris Turner’s suggestion at the Museum Of World Athletics (MOWA), Nurmi’s set of five 1924 gold medals will go on display in the prestigious Museum of the Monnaie de Paris, on the left bank of the Seine in the heart of the French capital.

Nurmi’s Paris golds form part of a larger exhibition of Olympic medals entitled D’or, d’argent, de bronze. Une histoire de la médaille Olympique, organised by the museum of the French mint to mark the Paris 2024 Games.

The exhibition opens for a media preview on March 26…