Arsi Ilari Harju (born 18 March 1974) is a retired Finnish former track and field athlete who competed in the shot put. He won the gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. He set his personal best of 21.39 in the qualification. In the final, Harju secured the gold medal with his second round shot put of 21.29, beating silver medalist Adam Nelson by 8 cm and bronze medalist John Godina by 9 cm. In 2000, Harju was also named the Finnish Sports Personality of the Year.
Harju was the 12th member to be inducted into the 20 metre club after achieving the distance of 20.16 on 2 March 1997, in Tampere, Finland.
Harju was a patron of UNICEF School walks in Finland.
Harju retired from international competitions after the season 2005. He competed again from 2011 to 2012 marking 18.48 as his season best in both years.
Major achievements Representing 1992World Junior ChampionshipsSeoul, South Korea11th16.94 m1993Finnish Indoor ChampionshipsKuopio, Finland 3rd17.99 (FR19)1995Finnish Outdoor ChampionshipsLapua, Finland 3rd19.461996Finnish Outdoor ChampionshipsTampere, Finland 1st19.461997Finnish Outdoor ChampionshipsLappeenranta, Finland 2nd19.72Finnish Indoor ChampionshipsRovaniemi, Finland 2nd19.771998Finnish Outdoor ChampionshipsOulu, Finland 1st21.04Finnish Indoor ChampionshipsTampere, Finland 2nd20.25European Indoor Championships Valencia, Spain 3rd20.531999Finnish Indoor ChampionshipsJyväskylä, Finland 1st19.522000Finnish Outdoor ChampionshipsLahti, Finland 1st20.84Summer OlympicsSydney, Australia 1st21.292001World ChampionshipsEdmonton, Canada 3rd20.932002European Championships Munich, Germany 4th20.472003World Indoor Championships Birmingham, England 4th20.96Finnish Indoor ChampionshipsKuortane, Finland 2nd20.372005Finnish Outdoor ChampionshipsPori, Finland 2nd20.21
References
Arsi Harju's webpage on the Perhon Kiri site Finnish Championships on gbrathletics.com
External links