From the late 1950s to the early 1960s Väinö Rantala had a brief career in amateur wrestling, becoming a national champion in Finland. Rantala won his first medal at the national championships in 1959 with bronze in the -52 kg category in Greco-Roman wrestling. Moving up to the -57 kg class, he then won silver in the freestyle event in 1960, followed by bronze one year later in the Greco-Roman event. During this time he also competed in the flyweight freestyle event at the 1960 Roma Olympics, but lost to André Zoéte (FRA) and Ibrahim Seifpour (IRI) to be eliminated. Rantala had his best result in 1962 when he won gold in the freestyle at the Finnish championships. His career, however, ended abruptly a year later due to a knee injury. Following his retirement he became a coach and youth instructor, as well as working as a shop assistant.
Finland