Gustav Kalkun

Estonian Gustav Kalkun was a gymnastics teacher and a track and field athlete who competed in the hammer and discus throws. Kalkun graduated from a school in Rīga, Latvia, before studying physical education in Tartu, Estonia, and Genève, Switzerland. Between 1922 and 1931 at the Estonian athletics championships he won three gold, three silver, and a bronze in the discus, along with one gold and four bronze medals in the hammer throw. He also improved the national record in the discus throw on six occasions from 1924 to 1928. Kalkun competed in the discus at the 1924 Paris Olympics where he finished in 15th place with a best throw of 38.460 metres. Four years later at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics he finished in tenth place in the same event, this time throwing 43.09 metres. He was also the flag bearer for Estonia at the Opening Ceremony at the Amsterdam Games.

Kalkun was a volunteer during World War I and the Estonian War of Independence. Prior to World War II he worked as an athletics and basketball referee before becoming the head of a youth organisation during the German occupation of Estonia. At the end of the war Kalkun was a refugee in Denmark from where he emigrated to Canada, becoming the physical director of the YMCA in London, Ontario. He died in a hospital in Windsor, Ontario, and was buried just across the border in a cemetery in Detroit, Michigan.

Personal Best: DT – 45.61 (1928).