Name Evert Jakobsson Role Olympic athlete | Died July 16, 1960 | |
Evert Brynolf Jakobsson (born 16 February 1886, Helsinki, Grand Duchy of Finland, Russian Empire; died 16 July 1960, Helsinki, Finland) was a Finnish javelin thrower who competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics.
Contents
Athletics
Evert Jakobsson with his brother Jarl emerged as javelin specialists in the summer of 1906. Their success was based on an alteration on the grip of the javelin. They had stapled two bits of stiff cord on it, improving its support for fingers. The existing world record by Erik Lemming was 53.90 metres, but with their enhancement, Evert broke it with 57.42 metres. He travelled to Stockholm in September 1906 to challenge Lemming. Although Lemming was victorious, he duplicated their grip and took back the record with 58.37 metres. At this point, the new grip was banned and all results achieved with it were disqualified, reverting the world record to 53.90.
With the Jakobssons' grip, Evert had thrown a two-handed sum of 98.47 meters in 1906. The next summer, he threw significantly less in his only known participation at the Finnish Championships in Athletics:
He entered three events at the Olympic Games:
Family
His brother Jarl Jakobsson was another Finnish 1908 Olympian. Figure skater Walter Jakobsson, who won Olympic gold in 1920 pair skating, was his cousin. Film director Jack Witikka was his son.