Juha Mieto

Juha Iisakki Mieto (born 20 November 1949) is a Finnish former cross-country skier, who was born in Kurikka. He competed in the 1972, 1976, 1980 and 1984 Olympics and won five medals, including a gold medal in the 4 × 10 km relay in 1976. He also placed fourth three times, losing the 15 km bronze medal in 1972 by 0.06 seconds. He finished second in this event in 1980 in the closest-ever margin of victory in Olympic cross-country skiing, 0.01 seconds, which led the International Ski Federation (FIS) to round all of their times to the nearest 1/10 second in future competitions.^[1] Mieto was selected as the Finnish flag bearer at the 1972 Winter Olympics.^[2]

Juha Mieto
Juha Mieto in February 2019
Country	Finland
Born	(1949-11-20) 20 November 1949 (age 74) Kurikka, Finland
Ski club	Kurikan Ryhti
World Cup career
Seasons	3 – (1982–1984)
Starts	11
Podiums	1
Wins	0
Overall titles	0 – (18th in 1984)
Medal record Men's cross-country skiing Representing  Finland Olympic Games 1976 Innsbruck 4 × 10 km relay 1980 Lake Placid 15 km 1980 Lake Placid 50 km 1980 Lake Placid 4 × 10 km relay 1984 Sarajevo 4 × 10 km relay World Championships 1974 Falun 30 km 1978 Lahti 4 × 10 km relay 1978 Lahti 15 km 1982 Oslo 4 × 10 km relay

Mieto won four medals at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, with silvers in the 30 km (1974) and the 4 × 10 km relay (1978), and bronzes in the 15 km (1978) and the 4 × 10 km relay (1982, tied with East Germany). His biggest success as a cross-country skier was at the Holmenkollen ski festival where he won the 50 km once (1973) and the 15 km five times (1973–1975, 1977–1978). He received the Holmenkollen medal in 1974.^[1]

After retiring from competitions in 1984 Mieto worked in public relations for several organizations, including Nordea Bank, Kuortane Sports Resort and World Vision. In the 2007 Finnish parliament elections he was a Centre Party candidate in Vaasa constituency. He was elected with 13,768 votes, which was the seventh best result in Finland that year.^[1]

Cross-country skiing results

Mieto at the 1978 Holmenkollen Ski Festival, in Oslo, Norway

All results are sourced from the International Ski Federation (FIS).^[3]

Olympic Games

• 5 medals – (1 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze)

Year	Age	15 km	30 km	50 km	4 × 10 km   relay
1972	22	4	—	—	5
1976	26	10	4	34	Gold
1980	30	Silver	7	Silver	Bronze
1984	34	4	8	10	Bronze

World Championships

• 4 medals – (2 silver, 2 bronze)

Year	Age	15 km	30 km	50 km	4 × 10 km   relay
1974	24	4	Silver	—	4
1978	28	Bronze	7	44	Silver
1982	32	6	5	—	Bronze

World Cup

Season standings

Season	Age	Overall
1982	32	26
1983	33	28
1984	34	18

Individual podiums

• 1 podium

No.	Season	Date	Location	Race	Level	Place
1	1982–83	10 February 1983	Igman, Yugoslavia	15 km Individual	World Cup	2nd

Team podiums

• 2 podiums

No.	Season	Date	Location	Race	Level	Place	Teammates
1	1981–82	25 February 1982	Oslo, Norway	4 × 10 km Relay	World Championships[1]	3rd	Härkönen / Karvonen / Kirvesniemi
2	1983–84	16 February 1984	Sarajevo, Yugoslavia	4 × 10 km Relay	Olympic Games[1]	3rd	Ristanen / Kirvesniemi / Karvonen

Note: ¹ Until the 1999 World Championships and the 1994 Olympics, World Championship and Olympic races were included in the World Cup scoring system.

References

1. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Juha Mieto". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020.
2. Finland. sports-reference.com
3. "Athlete : MIETO Juha". FIS-Ski. International Ski Federation. Retrieved 24 April 2018.

External links

• Media related to Juha Mieto at Wikimedia Commons
• Juha Mieto at the International Ski and Snowboard Federation
• Holmenkollen medalists – click Holmenkollmedaljen for downloadable pdf file (in Norwegian)
• Holmenkollen winners since 1892 – click Vinnere for downloadable pdf file (in Norwegian)
• Official home page (in Finnish)