Väinö Tiiri

Väinö Tiiri graduated from Finnish Real Lyceum in Turku in 1907 and earned his qualification as a gymnastics teacher in 1911. In 1909, competing with his club, Ylioppilasvoimistelijat, he won the national championships in team gymnastics. He competed at Olympic Games twice, winning two medals: bronze in team gymnastics at London 1908, and silver in the free system team event at Stockholm 1912. Subsequently, he worked as a gymnastics teacher.

Tiiri was the chairman of the Satakunta branch of Suomalainen Nuija, an organization of Finnish nationalist students. In November 1914, he initiated a meeting of activists in Ostrobothnia, which is considered as one of the activities that sparked the development of the Jäger (Finnish Independence) Movement. The following year, Tiiri was involved in the activities of the Central Committee, which – with German support – organized the so-called Pfadfinderkursus (“Boy Scouts training”), the forerunners of the Jägers.

After the Civil War, Tiiri attended the Finnish Artillery School and joined the army. There, he served in different positions, including as director of the non-commissioned officer school and, following his promotion to major, as head of the sports office within the General Staff. In World War II, he was a battalion commander. For his services, he was awarded the Finnish Cross of Liberty and other distinctions and was appointed Knight of the White Rose of Finland.

Tiiri remained involved in sports as the leader of the Finnish pentathlon team and as a gymnastics judge at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. For five years (1923-28), he was a member of the board of the Finnish Olympic Committee as well as of several other sports organizations. He was chairman of the boys’ chapter of the Finnish Gymnastics and Sports Federation (1924-26) and a founding member of the fencing club Helsingin Miekkailijat.

From 1909-17, Tiiri was one of the editors of the Suomen Urheilulehti sports weekly and editor of other print media. With his wife Helmi (née Koski) he had a son and a daughter.